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Thread: [Deck] The Rock

  1. #5941
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Matt- you should know how I feel about this topic but I want to know your(and anyone else's) opinion on this:

    Why are the non GSZ lists "better" than the GSZ junk lists? As I reread the junk'd article I was wondering where the zeniths have gone and why GWB zenith has never been a thing, even with DRS and abrupt decay. I would be playing zenith junk still but my wife has been using my BG staples for her elf deck... I have been playing punishing mav....*shame*
    "eggs... why'd it have to be eggs"

  2. #5942

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Random thought but what about sudden spoiling as an answer to TNN? Have to use combat to finish the job but doesn't seem all that bad
    Quote Originally Posted by Acclimation View Post
    I about died from laughter when I was watching my feature match and the commentators called Tinfins a difficult and challenging deck.

    I'm not saying it's the easiest deck to play, but the plan is so linear that I could probably get white girl wasted and still beat people with the deck.
    Quote Originally Posted by maharis View Post
    Imagine the trauma of a man who has seen Mom into Crusader enough to mainboard three Cabal Pits.

  3. #5943
    MTGO Name: Adelorenzi
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Quote Originally Posted by lavafrogg View Post
    Matt- you should know how I feel about this topic but I want to know your(and anyone else's) opinion on this:

    Why are the non GSZ lists "better" than the GSZ junk lists? As I reread the junk'd article I was wondering where the zeniths have gone and why GWB zenith has never been a thing, even with DRS and abrupt decay. I would be playing zenith junk still but my wife has been using my BG staples for her elf deck... I have been playing punishing mav....*shame*
    Just my .02 cents, but I feel like GSZ can no longer solve most problems the way it used to be able to do. In the past it was as simple as destroying your opponent's betterskull via GSZ pridemage, or getting your knight our asap to begin wastelanding. Nowadays, tutoring up a knight doesn't have quite the same impact it used to, and there are threats like TNN that can't be answered simply by tutoring up a green weenie.

    The advantage here is that the deck becomes less green focused, enabling hymn to be cast more consistently on turn two, as well as cutting down on the variance of drawing tutor targets when they aren't useful. One of the disadvantages of running a toolbox deck is that no matter how consistent, sometimes you just draw the wrong card for the situation.

    Personally, I like having the streamlined "tempo" creature assortment of 4 DRS, 4 Goyf, 4 SFM, and 4 DC. You are able to cast threats or discard/removal in large quantities each turn, which I have found to be great in the current meta.

    I love GSZ and Maverick/Junk builds that use it, I just feel like thoughtseize, Inquisition, Hymn, and Lili are better "Answers" for a majority of today's threats than GSZ/QPM/Scooze/Knight/Gaddock are. I really hope that GSZ comes back soon though, I want nothing more than to play regular old GW maverick again.

  4. #5944
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    I played a bit of Junk today against Deathblade and it was great. I had 2 ZP in my sideboard that I didn't even want to board in for the 5 games we played. I took 3 out of 5 in 1 pre-board game and 4 postboard (meaning he boards and I don't because the main is so good against his deck already). I also won 3 out of 5 against MUD and 3 out of 4 against Jund and still boarded zero cards for g2 and so on. I played a list sporting 4 GSZ and they were fantastic. Heres the list:


    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Dark Confidant
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Qasali Pridemage
    2 Knight of the Reliquary

    4 Green Sun's Zenith
    4 Thoughtseize
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    3 Abrupt Decay
    3 Liliana of the Veil

    1 Sensei's Divining Top
    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Batterskull

    1 Dryad Arbor
    1 Karakas
    3 Wasteland
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    4 Marsh Flats
    1 Windswept Heath
    3 Bayou
    2 Scrubland
    1 Savannah
    1 Swamp
    1 Forest
    1 Plains

    //SB
    2 Duress
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Zealous Persecution
    2 Ethersworn Canonist
    2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
    2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Sylvan Safekeeper
    1 Bojuka Bog


    KotR was great at preventing Nemesis from attacking until I got a SoFaI online or won with DRS. Wastelands were awesome with all the ramp (perhaps I'd want 4). The 3/3 StP/Decay split looks weird but worked out fine in practice.
    Do you know what assuming does? It makes an ass out of you and me.
    Get it...? Ass, u, me?

    ... ffs I was trying to be funny...

  5. #5945

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    I've been playing Junk in Legacy for a while now, testing a variety of builds in my local tournaments (I live in Japan and Legacy is way bigger than Modern here) and on cockatrice..
    I agree that GSun Zenith is too slow against combo and tempo to be honest so I eventually shied away from it, I've now been playing something similar to this build for the past few months and have been doing very well with it in my local events, which are weekly 16-20 person competitive tournaments :)

    My meta game is mostly blue decks, RUG delver, storm, show n tell, UW control Esperblade etc some pox decks, mono red, a little jund, elves, Merfolk, mud, nic fit and junk.. So I think quite diverse. Though the top table is consistently RUG, UW, storm and me ;)

    My philosophy is that being a fair deck we want to interact with our opponent as much as possible, and being that the key turns for interaction in this format are the first 2, that's where I've focused. The best interaction we can run is discard, removal and must answer threats.
    As a result of TNN I've favoured slightly more discard than removal.

    4 shaman
    3 stoneforge
    3 Bob
    3 lingering souls
    15 Dudes

    2 Sylvan library
    4 Thoughtseize
    2 IoK
    4 hymn
    3 swords plow
    3 abrupt decay
    4 Lilliana
    1 Batterskull
    1 sword of fire and ice
    22 stuff

    1 ???

    3 Godless Shrine
    2 Overgrown Tomb
    1 Temple Garden
    2 swamp
    1 plains
    1 forest
    4 marsh flats
    4 verdant catacombs
    1 windswept Heath
    3 wasteland
    22

    Sideboard

    1 Diabolic Edict
    1 Diabolic Edict/Zealous persecution/Engineered plague
    2 E tutor
    1 Nihil Spellbomb
    1 RIP/surgical extraction/nihil spellbomb
    1 surgical extraction
    1 pernicious deed
    1 jitte
    1 humility
    1 choke
    1 oblivion ring
    1 CoP: Red
    1 ensnaring bridge
    1 ethersworn canonist

    So firstly, yes those are shocklands, obviously replace them with dual lands if you can.. Despite their downside I am yet to lose to Rug delver or mono red etc. My point being to those that can't afford duals it isn't the end of the world, my Japanese opponents originally did not take me seriously because of this, but now they certainly do :)

    The ??? Can be whatever you want, I ran another IoK, but I wouldn't fault you for wanting another waste/karakas/ stoneforge or bob or souls.

    One bob has been replaced with a second sylvan library so as help mitigate late game draws of discard spells. Plus I love the selection it gives and love the card.

    The game plan is to dismantle your opponents plan and then play something that gives you an insurmountable advantage.

    No goyfs because this deck isn't a beat down deck, it's not it's game plan. I'd rather play stoneforge and flash back a lingering souls etc. plus humility is an awesome card.

    Sideboard I guess is standard-ish, I can give a detailed sideboard plan later if people want.

    I'm happy with my tempo, combo (including elves), and control matchup. It seems no one in Japan plays Death and Taxes so I need to do more testing for that, I feel my discard would be weakest there (and it's why I've been considering a plague or persecution in the side)
    I feel punishing fire is really good against me, unless we can get the sword on something, so any decks running that are favoured game 1 (this is where goyf would shine..) but I don't think thats to prominent at the moment.

    In my last 4 tournaments I went 2-0-1, 2-0-1, 2-1-0, 3-0-0
    My first draw was against RUG delver, though I had a superior board presence and my second was with UW control, I mulled to 5 game 1 and lost, won game 2, mulled to 5 game 3 it went to time and his Jace ultimate couldn't finish me off.. Though I did conceed to him to be a good sport. So count the 1st as a win and that as a loss if you like :P
    My loss was to UWR delver, 3rd game mull to 5 he to 6, I decided to go for "it" due to my bad hand and 1st turn e tutored for library, played it turn 2.. he promptly wear//teared it Q_Q and after not drawing lands for a few turns that was the end of that. Probably played that wrong in hindsight..

    Not to be cocky but my main problem is winning in time! I don't know if it's because I play tooo slow (I've only been playing legacy 4 months) or because the deck just takes a long time to win sometimes.. Probably a combination of both ^.^ quite a lot of my games go to or near time, though I usually have a bob/Liliana and an equipment to their nothing

    Anyways, hope my insights are useful to someone and thanks for the great discussions you've already had. I'll hopefully be a regular contributor to this thread from here on :)

  6. #5946
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    With a rise in Miracles, guess who is best capable to handle that? Us. Yep. That's right.

    I'll be running this to test:

    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Dark Confidant
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    4 Tarmogoyf

    3 Thoughtseize
    3 Inquisition of Kozilek
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Abrupt Decay
    3 Liliana of the Veil

    3 Sylvan Library
    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Batterskull

    3 Wasteland
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    3 Marsh Flats
    1 Windswept Heath
    4 Bayou
    2 Scrubland
    2 Savannah
    2 Swamp
    1 Forest

    It cuts the GSZ package (which was slowly being cut anyway) for more beef. 1 Goyf could just be a 1-of Zenith, but I wanted to run more basics. It's possible the Dryad and a 1-of Zenith still return, but we'll see what happens.

    I'm sad to see it go, but a new dawn must come. I think the board has to be tested again.

    I think we want to be running 2-3 Teeg as usual, but I think we should focus on:

    BUG Delver
    Sneak and Show
    Miracles
    DeathBlade (TNN)
    Patriot Delver (TNN)

    Krosan Grip is spicy against 3/5, just saying :P

    -Matt

  7. #5947
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Just one Zenith doesn't lock us in to a Dryad though. I like at least one, because post-board, it gives you a better chance of keepable hands when pretty much need Teeg. Even though it is a turn slower its better, than mulling to oblivion.
    "The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
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  8. #5948
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Dont view dryad arbor as ramp in this situation, in lists with stoneforge it turns every fetch into a threat.

  9. #5949
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Quote Originally Posted by uncletiggy View Post
    Dont view dryad arbor as ramp in this situation, in lists with stoneforge it turns every fetch into a threat.
    Quite true.

    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Dark Confidant
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    3 Tarmogoyf

    3 Thoughtseize
    3 Inquisition of Kozilek
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Abrupt Decay
    3 Liliana of the Veil
    1 Green Sun's Zenith

    3 Sylvan Library
    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Batterskull

    3 Wasteland
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    3 Marsh Flats
    1 Windswept Heath
    3 Bayou
    2 Scrubland
    2 Savannah
    2 Swamp
    1 Forest
    1 Dryad Arbor

    //

    2 Gaddock Teeg
    2 Golgari Charm
    1 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Nilhil Spellbomb
    2 Runed Halo
    1 Grafdigger's Cage
    3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    1 Seal of Primordium/Pridemage
    X
    X

    Need to tune the sideboard for sure, but I've been liking the maindeck at least.

    -Matt

  10. #5950

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Matt, how are those runed halos working out?

  11. #5951
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Sideboard is still being worked on, and I haven't gotten enough games in with Deathblade to see if it is worth it.

    -Matt

  12. #5952
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    I have some Questions on my current list. As it stands I am very happy with the way it's been performing, however there are some changes I'd like to make and need help with. For starters this is my list:

    4 Deathrite
    4 Stoneforge
    4 Knight
    2 Pridemage
    2 Sculler
    16 Creatures

    1 Jitte
    1 B-Skull
    1 SoFI
    2 Sylvan Library
    5 Utility

    3 Swords
    3 Decay
    1 Golgari Charm
    3 Liliana
    3 IoK
    2 Thoughtseize
    2 Lingering Souls
    17 Spells

    4 Verdant Catacombs
    2 Windswept Heath
    2 Marsh Flats
    2 Savannah
    1 Bayou
    1 Scrubland
    1 Forest
    1 Plains
    1 Swamp
    2 Wasteland
    1 Karakas
    1 Horizon Canopy
    1 Dark Depths
    1 Thespian's Stage
    1 Urborg, Tomb of yawgmoth
    22 Lands

    Sideboard
    2 Ashen Rider
    1 Oblivion Ring
    1 Maelstrom Pulse
    1 Toxic Deluge
    1 Golgari Charm
    1 Engineered Plague
    1 Choke
    2 Thalia
    1 Canonist
    2 Surgicals
    2 RiP

    Right off the bat the mana base is my first concern.

    1. Should a Catacombs be a Marsh Flats?
    2. I want one more each of Scrubland and Bayou when they come in so I'm thinking -1 Tomb -1 Savannah?
    3. I'd really like to see a second basic swamp so I can cast all my spells off basics is it really worth it tho, if so I'd cut the depth's package and add a man land?
    4. If the depth's package goes from question number 3 Dryad Arbor or Treetop Village (This feels unlikely as Gerry T has won more games then it's been a liability in)?
    5. I'm not sure whether one Plow should be a Thoughtseize?
    6. I haven't gotten many games in versus miracles yet, but it feels soft on paper. Elspeth feels like a solid miser for the board to help but what to cut or are there any other versatile one ofs I should try (Teeg, without zenith a one of feels too low on the curve and too random to come down in time to help or Equipose is one I'd like to try it could be good versus Affinity or EtW and other fringe cases)?
    7. Am I overloading on any matchups or is the board pretty well balanced for an scg open (I got 53 at the last one I attended with a list with hymns over scullers and therapy's over IoK with the same board with my losses coming from SnT, DnT, RUG)?
    8. Am I overlooking anything obvious, Burn feels terrible but I have a 4-0 track record vs it so far in large environments all very close 2-1 matches?

    Notes:
    1. I do not have goyf but if I did much of the list would look different and all of these question would be different. Other then that anything else is fair game.
    2. I've tried to be as resilient to -1/-1 effects as possible and only play creatures with the ability to disrupt the board state, which is the reason for Bob's exclusion(In addition to being a bit 3 drop heavy).

    Thanks in advance
    Tim

  13. #5953
    MTGO Name: Adelorenzi
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Does this thread also serve to function as a Junk Depths discussion thread? Forgive me if one exists, I have been unable to find it.

    In any case, some people have been doing well with the deck recently, and I wanted to see what people's thoughts were on the best build.

    I know Jeff Hoogland has been piloting it recently, so if anyone has any advice or tips it would be appreciated.

  14. #5954

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    I've been playing around with a junk list that's been doing fairly well. Wanted to get some feedback on it:

    3 Tarmogoyf
    3 Dark Confidant
    4 Stoneforge Mystic
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    2 Knight of the Reliquary
    2 Lingering Souls

    3 Sensei's Divining Top
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Abrupt Decay
    1 Toxic Deluge
    2 Liliana of the Veil
    3 Thoughtseize
    1 Inquisition of Kozilek
    1 Batterskull
    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice

    4 Verdant Catacombs
    3 Marsh Flats
    2 Windswept Heath
    3 Wasteland
    3 Bayou
    2 Scrubland
    2 Savannah
    1 Forest
    1 Plains
    1 Swamp
    1 Karakas

    SB: 2 Pithing Needle
    SB: 1 Thoughtseize
    SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
    SB: 2 Golgari Charm
    SB: 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
    SB: 2 Phyrexian Revoker
    SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
    SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
    SB: 1 Life from the Loam

    I've been liking sdt more than library for a couple of reasons:

    1) It fits better on the curve. The deck is really quite heavy on 2 drops and without top, there have been games where I don't have a good 1 drop
    2) It allows you to peek more than once a turn as well as before confidant triggers--this has saved me about 2-3 life/game with confidant
    3) The second one can just be shuffled away, while a topdecked sylvan library is dead 80% of the time.
    4) It's a lot more resilient to removal than library

    I've also been running 3 confidants because the life loss does hurt quite a bit in the aggro matchups. I usually don't want to see more than 1 a game--even if it gets killed, it usually just means one of my win cons (goyf, sfm, knight) will stick and swing in for tons of damage.

  15. #5955

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Hello fellow green mages,

    I'm a new legacy player that has started the junk deck and fell in love with it. I have a tournament report for a "win a dual" tourny.

    So it was 7 rounds of competition and i got my first round as bye. Then somehow the god of magic decide to put me up against 5 combo decks and 1 burn deck.

    To be fair my decklist was pretty much in developement and did not address combo decks in the mainboard.

    My list was
    X7 fetches
    X5 duals
    X1 karakas
    X1 dark depths
    X1 thespians stage
    X1 dryad arbor
    X1 horizon canopy
    X3 basics
    X3 waste

    X4 deathrite
    X3 Thalia
    X4 knight
    X1 sylvan safekeeper
    X1 scavenging ooze
    X1 qasali pridemage
    x2 stoneforge

    X4 swords to plow
    X4 green sun
    X2 thoughtseize
    X2 abrupt decay

    X1 sylvan library
    X1 sword of fire and Ice
    X1 batterskull
    X1 jitte
    X3 liliana
    X1 bitterblossom

    Side
    X2 enlightened tutor
    X2 rest in peace
    X2 golgari charm
    X2 engineered explosive
    X1 pithing needle
    X2 ethersworn
    X1 qasali pridemage
    X1 gaddock teeg
    X1 o ring
    X1 choke

    I went 3-4 in the end and really should've done my researches on combo decks
    My thoughts on my list after the tournament were, green sun is good, but a but too slow.
    Thalia is good, but it screwed me over with my list. Without noble hiearch, and mom, thalia didn't do much
    Bitterblossom is too slow.
    But i was very pleased with my side, despite how the side also affects my mainboard cards

    If i were to play again, i wouldve cut the greensun zenith package, play more discard, as i believe it is more relavant in the format, play bob instead of thalia, no dryad arbor, play more sylvan or top, as it saved my ass. Abrupt decay to 3 and play better as i lost most of my games due to stupid mistakes and not enough knowledge.

  16. #5956
    MTGO Name: Adelorenzi
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    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Quote Originally Posted by timinister View Post
    Hello fellow green mages,

    I'm a new legacy player that has started the junk deck and fell in love with it. I have a tournament report for a "win a dual" tourny.

    So it was 7 rounds of competition and i got my first round as bye. Then somehow the god of magic decide to put me up against 5 combo decks and 1 burn deck.

    To be fair my decklist was pretty much in developement and did not address combo decks in the mainboard.

    My list was
    X7 fetches
    X5 duals
    X1 karakas
    X1 dark depths
    X1 thespians stage
    X1 dryad arbor
    X1 horizon canopy
    X3 basics
    X3 waste

    X4 deathrite
    X3 Thalia
    X4 knight
    X1 sylvan safekeeper
    X1 scavenging ooze
    X1 qasali pridemage
    x2 stoneforge

    X4 swords to plow
    X4 green sun
    X2 thoughtseize
    X2 abrupt decay

    X1 sylvan library
    X1 sword of fire and Ice
    X1 batterskull
    X1 jitte
    X3 liliana
    X1 bitterblossom

    Side
    X2 enlightened tutor
    X2 rest in peace
    X2 golgari charm
    X2 engineered explosive
    X1 pithing needle
    X2 ethersworn
    X1 qasali pridemage
    X1 gaddock teeg
    X1 o ring
    X1 choke

    I went 3-4 in the end and really should've done my researches on combo decks
    My thoughts on my list after the tournament were, green sun is good, but a but too slow.
    Thalia is good, but it screwed me over with my list. Without noble hiearch, and mom, thalia didn't do much
    Bitterblossom is too slow.
    But i was very pleased with my side, despite how the side also affects my mainboard cards

    If i were to play again, i wouldve cut the greensun zenith package, play more discard, as i believe it is more relavant in the format, play bob instead of thalia, no dryad arbor, play more sylvan or top, as it saved my ass. Abrupt decay to 3 and play better as i lost most of my games due to stupid mistakes and not enough knowledge.
    Burn is tough. What combo decks did you face? Perhaps we can give advice.

  17. #5957

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    I lost to lands, show n tell, and reanimator. Beat 2 show n tell. I could ve beaten lands, but i overextended, and he top deck crop rotation for game when i tapped my karakas for stoneforge to quicken the clock.

  18. #5958

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Quote Originally Posted by ironclad8690 View Post
    Does this thread also serve to function as a Junk Depths discussion thread? Forgive me if one exists, I have been unable to find it.

    In any case, some people have been doing well with the deck recently, and I wanted to see what people's thoughts were on the best build.

    I know Jeff Hoogland has been piloting it recently, so if anyone has any advice or tips it would be appreciated.
    I took my Junk Depths list to a small 4 round tournament and went 2-2, beating High Tide 2-1 and Shardless 2-0, losing to UR Pyromancer 0-2 and Death and Taxes 1-2. I don't have my list handy, but at the time I did play 3 Lilianas. Turns out that pushing out a Chalice at 1 gives decks plenty of cards to discard to her with zero cards lost, so I'll be looking to replace her.

    The deck did feel weak to counter magic when trying to stabilize versus Pyromancer and High Tide and it seemed slow when trying to stymie an aggro rush or knock off combo since so much of its actions rely on Living Wish.

    I think adding fat to the deck or sideboard through Goyf or maybe Tabernacle would be good.
    Quote Originally Posted by Acclimation View Post
    I about died from laughter when I was watching my feature match and the commentators called Tinfins a difficult and challenging deck.

    I'm not saying it's the easiest deck to play, but the plan is so linear that I could probably get white girl wasted and still beat people with the deck.
    Quote Originally Posted by maharis View Post
    Imagine the trauma of a man who has seen Mom into Crusader enough to mainboard three Cabal Pits.

  19. #5959

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Here's a list that won a large tournament about 1 year ago:

    CREATURES (14)
    4 Dark Confidant
    4 Tarmogoyf
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Dryad Arbor
    SORCERIES (13)
    4 Lingering Souls
    3 Green Sun’s Zenith
    2 Inquisition of Kozilek
    4 Cabal Therapy
    INSTANTS (8)
    4 Abrupt Decay
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    ARTIFACTS (4)
    3 Sensei’s Divining Top
    1 Umezawa’s Jitte
    LANDS (21)
    1 Forest
    1 Plains
    1 Swamp
    2 Marsh Flats
    3 Windswept Heath
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    4 Wasteland
    1 Savannah
    2 Scrubland
    2 Bayou

    The list seems sweet. It's most def more aggro than other versions, since it doesn't run SFM or Liliana (which is considerably slow). It also got some GSZ going, dryab arbor seems really sweet to a) ramp ofc and b) sac to cabal therapy. This play for instance:

    Turn 1 Play land. GSZ for arbor.
    Turn 2. Play land. Play cabal therapy. Play Confidant/Tarmogoyf. Sac dryad to Therapy flashback.

    Not sure if I like the 1off Ooze though.

    Also it seems bit weak against TNN. But I suppose we could run 2x Persecution in MB instead of 2 Swords? Persecution being really good against many decks (young pyromancer^ ;) ) With 4x lingering souls it can do a big blowout too

  20. #5960
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    264

    Re: [Deck] The Rock

    Hey guys I thought I'd share some tournament experience with The Rock. Saturday 1st of March I played a tournament in Hannover, Germany which is frequently held each month and gathers around 50-80 people each time. Normally you would see me playing ANT, but during the months before I found myself having a hard time at this tournament series because the meta is infested with Delver and Stoneblade. After Grand Prix Paris I assumed there would be more Miracles as usual as well, so I decided to play the other deck I had access to: Rock/Junk.

    This time we had exactly 50 players with alot of regulars and really good players amongst them (for example Stefan Boettcher, who made Top8 at GP Paris).

    Without further ado, here is the list I played:

    Maindeck:
    1x Umezawa's Jitte
    2x Sensei's Divining Top
    1x Batterskull

    4x Deathrite Shaman
    4x Stoneforge Mystic
    4x Dark Confidant

    4x Swords to Plowshares
    4x Abrupt Decay

    4x Liliana of the Veil
    1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

    4x Lingering Souls
    3x Thoughtseize
    2x Cabal Therapy

    2x Bayou
    2x Scrubland
    1x Savannah
    4x Marsh Flats
    3x Verdant Catacombs
    2x Windswept Heath
    1x Forest
    1x Plains
    2x Swamp
    3x Wasteland

    Sideboard:
    2x Zealous Persecution
    1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
    2x Ethersworn Canonist
    2x Gaddock Teeg
    2x Pithing Needle
    1x Humility
    2x Rest in Peace
    2x Surgical Extraction
    1x Manriki Gusari

    First of all: I didn't test this decklist very much. I build it the evening before, because that was the moment I learend I would have access to Bayous. I threw the Sideboard together from what my guts told me, so I'm pretty sure it's terrible ;D But nevertheless it worked pretty okay.

    We played 6 Rounds of Swiss, with the Top8 after Swiss receiving prizes (some Duals or other money cards).

    Round 1 against Christian with Esper Deathblade:
    G1: I win the die roll and start off with Bayou into Deathrite Shaman. He plays some cantrips off of Underground Sea and later plays a Scrubland, so I correctly put him on Esperblade. Turn 2 I Cabal Therapy him and see Riptide Laboratory, Jace, Jitte and Darkblast (I named SFM). I myself am holding only Lands and a SFM. After giving him another turn I draw Dark Confidant, which is dead against his Darkblast, so I decide that I have to make SFM my basic plan here. I flashback Therapy with my DRS and name discard his Jace, which clears the Path for my SFM --> Batterskull. He doesn't find any removal, just other cantrips and dies soon against Batterskull equipped with Jitte.
    G2: Game two is quick and dirty. I have a hand full of removal and kill his DRS, Liliana, and SFM. I can establish an early Dark Confidant which gets me to 14 life, but gives me 3 Lingering Souls and a SFM. He doesn't find his board whipes in form of uncounterable Wrath of God and quickly dies to Spirit Tokens, powered up by Jitte. His hand full of Planeswalkers looks just bad against this.

    1-0

    Round 2 against Jens Wilkens on BUG Delver (you might remember him from GP Paris Stream - he lost his win and in in Top8 and nearly smashed the table)
    G1: We both play some creatures and removal in form of decays. At one time I play Liliana into his Daze which was just a bad play of me. I draw enough lands and suprisingly dopdeck DRS after DRS. I jam them on the board and slowly eat his and my grave. He has alot of DRSs too, so at one point we have 7 DRS on the board in total (4 on my side, 3 on his). I killed his 4th DRS before, so I have the upper hand here and he after some slow grinding action he picks up his cards.
    G2: He starts off with Thoughtseize and picks my DRS, which I desperately needed to ramp into my CC3 spells clogging up my hand. I topdeck a Surgical Extraction and do some calculations. In the end I waste his lonely Underground Sea and extract all 4 of them from his deck which might be wrong, but I figured I could possibly manascrew him by taking his most valuable dual land. This is not the case as he proceeds in drawing enought lands and fills the board with Confidants, Goyfs and Deathrite Shamans. I can only make some Spirits which get on chumpblocking duty and die soon after to his Goyf beats.
    G3: He takes a mulligan on 5 and I keep my 7 with a solid DRS, Discard, Liliana, STP and some Lands. I start discarding his DRS and fill the board with my own Shaman and some lands. I carefully play around Daze this time only to run my Liliana into his topdeck Spell Pierce. He finds removal of his own and deploys a beefy Goyf to the board. I topdeck Rest in Peace and jam it furiously on the board. I look at him and he approves, then I grin relieved and say go. He instantly calls a Judge and tells me I had forgotten to announce the ETB Trigger of RIP. Damn. I want to smash my head on the table for my stupidity. End of the Story --> I receive a Warning and his Goyf beats me to death. Sometimes I'm stupid. Really.

    1-1

    Round 3 against Christy with RUG Delver
    G1: I win the die roll and just play Windswept Heath and say go. This is a bad mistake, as I should have known that Christy plays RUG and therefore Stifle from previous tournaments. So I run into his Stifle like a noob and never come back after a Wasteland of my only other land. Man I have to work on this thing called Thinking...
    G2: This game he steamrolls me again. Bolts my DRS, counters all my stuff, while 2 Nimble Mongoose take large chunks of my life total. On 6 life i can stabilize a bit with some Lingering Souls and a Liliana, attacking his shrouded creatues from a different angle. On his turn he smiles and shows me his topdecked Lightning Bolt, besides another Bolt he was holding from earlier. This is what RUG does sometimes. After this game I'm a bit depressed and angry with myself because of my stupid mistakes.

    1-2

    Round 4 against Kim with GB Infect
    G1: I don't know what he is playing but luckily my starting hand contains DRS, 2x STP, Thoughtseize, Decay and 2 Lands. I start off by launching the discad spell at his face and shrug when I see Abrupt Decay, 2x Plague Stinger, Blight Mamba and 2 Lands. I take the decay and start killing each creature he drops on the board from there on due to my removal heavy hand. Later in the game he plays Thoughtseize on me (discarding nothing, cuz my hand is all lands) and follows it up with a Phyrexian Crusader. This guy is really nasty, because I can't STP it and have trouble blocking it. Like a pro I topdeck Liliana of the Veil, make him sacrifice his precious Crusader and win with Spirit Tokens shortly after.
    G2: This game is similiar to the first one. I can make a turn 2 Liliana off of my DRS and start growing her. In the meantime I remove his creatures with STP/Decay and waste his duals. He then bricks on black mana and dies with 2 Forest, 1 Swamp in play and alot of topdecked Phyrexian Crusaders in hand.

    2-2

    Round 5 against Jan with Junk
    G1: He wins the die roll and plays Inquisition of Kozilek, discarding my DRS. I just play land, go. He untaps, draws his card for the turn and makes a confused face. He then tells me, he drew an Extirpate which shouldn't normally be in his maindeck. We call a Judge and he quickly receives a Game Loss for not correctly de-sideboarding. It's a bit sad, because he seems to be a nice guy and it could have been an exciting game.
    G2: We both start with thoughtseizing each other, ripping our opponents hands apart. At one point he resolves a Liliana of the Veil and makes me hellbent with no creature on the board. Luckily I draw some Lingering Souls thereafter and make his Liliana look bad in the face of several 1/1s. I kill his Liliana and cast one myself and then stabilize on flying Spirits carrying Jitte. Nothing he can do about this. More so, because he doesn't play any Abrupt Decays, which he tells me after the game.

    3-2

    Round 6 against Peter-Micail with 4 Color Omnitell Brew
    G1: I know that this guy is playing Show and Tell because he sat next to me in Round 2. But besides that, I don't really know how his deck works, and why he needs so many colors. He wins the die roll and I keep my starting seven consisting of 2 Lands, 2 Decays, 2 Bobs and one SFM. I thought about mulling for Karakas or Discard, but then decided, if I could get Bob Maher on the board I would be in good shape, since he could go for SNT as early as Turn 3 (I was fairly sure he wasn't playing any accelleration). He starts off with Cabal Therapy, naming Deathrite Shaman (I have none). Then writes down my hand. Looks at his hand. Then I pick my cards up and he looks at his notes and said something like: "Dude I think I just wrote down my own hand". I have to control my self to not burst out in laughter. While looking more closely at him I suddenly recognize, that he might be high or something - which makes it even more funny. I then take my turn, play land and say go. He draws his card for the turn and thoughtseizes me, taking one of my Bobs. I ask if i can pick my cards up and he nodds. Two seconds later he recognized, that he forgot to write my cards down. I smile, take my turn and play the remaining Confidant. On his turn he draws his third discard spell in a row: Another Cabal Therapy. He looks at me, glassy-eyed, and tells me that he strangely forgot what my hand was, plays his Therapy and names Deathrite Shaman. I reveal my hand with the same cards he had seen 2 times before and then he slaps himself and says: "Damnit... I meant Liliana... Why did I say Deathrite Shaman?!". Highly amused I keep on playing - eventually topdeck a Liliana and reduce his handsize to two. On his turn he plays his fourth land, and slams an Academy Rector on the table. He then flashbackes his Therapy (not hitting again!) and Omniscience enters the battlefield on his side of the board. Luckily he is hellbent after this move and his deck refuses to cooperate, so Bob Maher beats him to death.
    G2: This game he opens with Thoughtseize, taking a Liliana from my hand. I Thoughtseize on my turn, seeing only FoW and Lands. We both drop some lands and I resolve a DRS. He doesnt make anything relevant and I advance my board with Liliana and Stoneforge Mystic. On the following turns he complains about how unfair Liliana is against his deck and then shows me his topdecked Show and Tell and Emrakul. Just before I kill him with Batterskull he plays an Academy Rector to stop my offensive. He looks at me suspiciously, but I know how this works. I kill his Rector with my Liliana and in response to the GY-Trigger, remove it with my DRS. Then he scoops it up.

    4-2

    Before Round 6 I was at 12th place. I think I might slide into Top8 on Brakers but in the end i come up on 9th place with my Brakers being 0,5% short of 8th place. Shit happens I guess. Nevertheless, I had an awesome day, meeting nice people and am happy about my little comeback after Round 3. Junk, especially Lingering Souls combined with Liliana of the Veil seems to be not to shabby in the actual meta. Flying over things like TNN while carrying Equipment is awesome. Plus: Lingering Souls stops most planeswalkers and is strong against Miracles as well.

    I hope you find my little report helpful! Have a good day!

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