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

[Cheap Thrills]

Hey guys :) Long time lurker first time posting!

I picked up TES a while ago but since I don't play too often I still think I'm a newbie to the deck :)

I was at GP Paris too! Making a less than honorable 2-5 (or something I lost track, but I did win an 8 player pick-up that made me really happy ^.^ to beat esper thingie, maverick and ANT) I wanted to talk about a couple of things.

I'm using the maindeck list on the first page with a couple of changes:

1) -1 Empty the Warrens, +1 Tendrils of Agony. True-Name Nemesis put too many things running -1-1 effects and I haven't noticed much of a problem going main plan Tendrils or wishing for the goblins.

2) -1 Infernal Tutor, +1 Past in Flames. This was a last minute change the night before. While playtesting there were just too many times where 2 things happened: I either wanted to Wish for an Infernal Tutor or I wanted another engine than Ad Nauseam.

You'll forgive me if I didn't read through all the thread to check if this was brought up already, but I wanted to bring these up :)

[Lemnear]

Hey guys :) Long time lurker first time posting!

I picked up TES a while ago but since I don't play too often I still think I'm a newbie to the deck :)

I was at GP Paris too! Making a less than honorable 2-5 (or something I lost track, but I did win an 8 player pick-up that made me really happy ^.^ to beat esper thingie, maverick and ANT) I wanted to talk about a couple of things.

I'm using the maindeck list on the first page with a couple of changes:

1) -1 Empty the Warrens, +1 Tendrils of Agony. True-Name Nemesis put too many things running -1-1 effects and I haven't noticed much of a problem going main plan Tendrils or wishing for the goblins.

2) -1 Infernal Tutor, +1 Past in Flames. This was a last minute change the night before. While playtesting there were just too many times where 2 things happened: I either wanted to Wish for an Infernal Tutor or I wanted another engine than Ad Nauseam.

You'll forgive me if I didn't read through all the thread to check if this was brought up already, but I wanted to bring these up :)

1) How do you win with only 6 mana + Infernal against Discard or Hatebears without EtW MB? You simply can't.

2) You can still Infernal for Wish to grab an engine other than Ad Nauseam. This is an Ad Nauseam deck and cutting Infernal for a 4cc card like PIF is absurd in that regards. PIF is a miserable MB engine for TES as RoF doesn't push your mana development like Cabal Ritual does in ANT unlike you see 3 RoF in your graveyard as given



Other topic, folks:
Looks like miracles in back with full force ...

[sawatarix]

Empty the Warrens seems almost useless the last couple of months due to -1/-1 cards thanks to tnn.
have you ever thought about 0 Empty 2 Ad Nauseam in the Main?
My friend Timo plays Ant with 2 Ad Nauseams for extra Speed and he is satisfied so far.

- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[JPoJohnson]

Empty the Warrens seems almost useless the last couple of months due to -1/-1 cards thanks to tnn.
have you ever thought about 0 Empty 2 Ad Nauseam in the Main?
My friend Timo plays Ant with 2 Ad Nauseams for extra Speed and he is satisfied so far.

- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

Does he run Burning ANT or does he also have Tendrils in the MD? That sounds extremely greedy.

[sawatarix]

No it's Ant without Wish although he played a version with ant during gp ghent.
Tendrils is in the MD obviously.
Actually he plays 4 "Big" Spell,in particular 2 Ad Nauseam,1 Past in Flames 1 Tendrils

I always like to have Ad Nauseam in Hand when playing TES,it doesn't get spell snared and we just need 5 Mana (instead of 7) to go off.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[joemauer]

Does he run Burning ANT or does he also have Tendrils in the MD? That sounds extremely greedy.

I think he is implying no maindeck win condition. However, despite the rampage of -1/-1 sweepers being played, a singleton Empty the Warrens is still great against the non Team American tempo decks.

Also, the deck that is most likely to run Golgari Charms(that we care about) is the Team America decks. Sacrificing our other matchups for what is one of our worst matchups seems counterproductive.


Edit: Ninja'd, but I still think Empty needs to be in the maindeck.

[Lemnear]

No it's Ant without Wish although he played a version with ant during gp ghent.
Tendrils is in the MD obviously.
Actually he plays 4 "Big" Spell,in particular 2 Ad Nauseam,1 Past in Flames 1 Tendrils

I always like to have Ad Nauseam in Hand when playing TES,it doesn't get spell snared and we just need 5 Mana (instead of 7) to go off.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

Schünemann? He played 1 Ad Nauseam in Paris.

As you know, ANT Ad Nauseams are more used to refill your hand as they are easy to cast off more lands and ******** Cabal Rituals unlike in TES where you want to use the 5cc Spell to flip your library and 0cc artifacts over for a kill in the same turn asap. I've tested with 2 and with 3 AN in TES as I started playing the deck (like the Vintage BobNauseam decks did at that time) and was not satisfied by the result.

The moment EtW isn't an option in the metagame anymore turns the whole concept build around Cabal Therapy, Infernal and Wish for Goblins ad absurdum as I usually won half my games with Goblins at times. IF that's the case, ANT might be a wiser choice for a metagame with a shitload of -1/-1 effects (even if the deck focuses on the graveyard in times of RIP and DRS).

P.S.: I'm also fed up by uphill battles against good pilots on Esperblade or other dual-disruption (counter+hatebear/counter+discard) + sweeper decks. Burned out :/

[Marcelo65]

Hi, TES players. Watch out for my GP tournament report with TES. Unfortunately, time is precious but I try to finish it soon. It was a great weekend in Paris.

[sawatarix]

Looking forward to read it Marcelo,your reports are always the best.
I hope you did well?


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Lemnear]

Hi, TES players. Watch out for my GP tournament report with TES. Unfortunately, time is precious but I try to finish it soon. It was a great weekend in Paris.

Looking forward to read it Marcelo,your reports are always the best.
I hope you did well?


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

Out of curiosity ... how long did you opt to keep this going?

[Bryant Cook]

I'll be playing TES for the first time at a big event in a few months this weekend in PA. Hopefully the metagame is full of fair decks.

[davelin]

I'll be playing TES for the first time at a big event in a few months this weekend in PA. Hopefully the metagame is full of fair decks.

Good luck, can't wait for a report!

[sawatarix]

Good luck bryant,let's hope 9 Rounds vs Jund ;-)
Is this a starcity event or anything else?


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Deviruchi]

Good luck bryant,let's hope 9 Rounds vs Jund ;-)
Is this a starcity event or anything else?

He will (try to) win this: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...et-February-22

[sawatarix]

Wow,the prices look pretty sweet,
Bryant you should definately win this tournament.
Let's meet at Bazaar of Moxen!



- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Tammit67]

I'll be playing TES for the first time at a big event in a few months this weekend in PA. Hopefully the metagame is full of fair decks.

Bryant today- "Man, the room is full of bad matchups"

Still top 8's anyway.

[Final Fortune]

The moment EtW isn't an option in the metagame anymore turns the whole concept build around Cabal Therapy, Infernal and Wish for Goblins ad absurdum as I usually won half my games with Goblins at times. IF that's the case, ANT might be a wiser choice for a metagame with a shitload of -1/-1 effects (even if the deck focuses on the graveyard in times of RIP and DRS).

P.S.: I'm also fed up by uphill battles against good pilots on Esperblade or other dual-disruption (counter+hatebear/counter+discard) + sweeper decks. Burned out :/

Now do you believe me when I tell you that we should be playing 3 Thoughtseize instead of 3 Silence? All of the SBing plans of the aggro-control and control decks revolve around Vendilion Clique, Meddling Mage, Counterbalance, discard and Pyroclasm/-1-1 effects all of which Silence is worthless against.

UBW is a rough matchup, counters, discard, hate bears and Wasteland are a force to be reckoned with and it sounds like you just finally woke up and realized RUG wasn't running the format anymore.

[sawatarix]

Although thoughtseize looks pretty solid it's actually pretty bad to have 7 free-shocks in a deck which tries to fire off an ad nauseam deck.
(You are going to start ad nauseam from 〜13 most of the time after a single delver attack)


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Lemnear]

Now do you believe me when I tell you that we should be playing 3 Thoughtseize instead of 3 Silence? All of the SBing plans of the aggro-control and control decks revolve around Vendilion Clique, Meddling Mage, Counterbalance, discard and Pyroclasm/-1-1 effects all of which Silence is worthless against.

UBW is a rough matchup, counters, discard, hate bears and Wasteland are a force to be reckoned with and it sounds like you just finally woke up and realized RUG wasn't running the format anymore.

Thoughtseize does nothing against floated or topdecked hate in a format full of Brainstorm/Ponder/SDT which was my main reason to keep playing Silence as I mentioned many times before. Cards like Envelope/Spell Snare/Mindbreak Trap and especially a mix of common MB and SB counters in your opponents hand is nothing a single Thoughtseize can handle. Ever looked into a hand of Flusterstorm, Snare and Stifle?

UBW decks like Deathblade are indeed a horrible matchup. Thank God the deck is too expensive to see it every second match. It's not that the switch between Thoughtseize and Silence would matter here

[Marcelo65]

Out of curiosity ... how long did you opt to keep this going?

I don't want to be subject to flames. And by the way: I could ask you the same.
I really don't want to have my favourite textmage against me in this forum. Let's stay on topic.