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

[Asthereal]

Common guys. It was just a joke referencing Bryant's tournament report from last year (http://www.starcitygames.com/article...orchester.html) I thought that was the nature of BrettF's post...

Missed the sarcasm sign. That happens sometimes, especially when I spend like three seconds on reading posts before I respond.

[Lemnear]

Why now we play 2 thoughseize and 1 duress?

why this spit?

what is the advantgae of one over another?

The split is because the damage of Thoughtseize can get really annoying if drawn in multiples. I advice to be more conservative with Probes so you don't have to cast Ad Nauseams from less than 15 life in like every game. It's completely fine if you prepare for a RUG/BUG Delver-heavy metagame by running only Duress, as it is to run 3 Thoughtseize if you have to battle Cliques, control and hatebears all day. The split is a suggestion for the average tourney

Missed the sarcasm sign. That happens sometimes, especially when I spend like three seconds on reading posts before I respond.

No one was hurt ;)

[sawatarix]

Lifeloss is always bad in a deck whose primary wincondition is ad nauseam.




- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[cuthbertthecat]

I'm going to be streaming the Legacy daily on MTGO in about 20 minutes with TES. Come watch at twitch.tv/cuthbertthecat if you're interested.

[Omega87]

Streaming is very nice, but with the time shift all over the world it is very unlikely that someone from Germany can watch you playing at 5am...
Maybe you all could make videos instead, so we can watch them in moderate times... ;-)

[bennotsi]

Streaming is very nice, but with the time shift all over the world it is very unlikely that someone from Germany can watch you playing at 5am...
Maybe you all could make videos instead, so we can watch them in moderate times... ;-)

Haha thought exactly the same! I was up till 3 am, but that wasn't enough ;-)

[Lemnear]

Tbh I noticed the post about the stream on my way home from clubbing. Wasn't in the mood/condition/company to watch this one as a result ;)

[Omega87]

Company? :-D hope you had some fun...

By the way, does anybody know some sources to watch tes videos but the starting post?

[BrettF]

What would you do?

[mario91234]

Keep all those hands


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[sawatarix]

Hm i'm not sure abou hands without business but only mana.
I mean it depends,if you are on the draw those hads become slightly better .
Carsten Kotter told me to mullian those hands because you just loose the game if you just draw nothing the first 1-5 turns.

[Togores]

Thing is karsten plays ant nkt tes.
While abt has lower win cards (specialy the only infernal version)

Tes has 10 of them plus 8 blue good drawing spells. I thing this hands arr not so bad in tes.

[BrettF]

Its most fun if you describe
1)Are you keeping
2)if so, what is your first turn play exactly, and what is your game plan moving forward

I'll post mine later

[tadiou]

What would you do?

1A: Bug Delver, On the Draw, Preboard:
Lion's Eye Diamond, Ponder, Dark Ritual, Gemstone Mine, Cabal Therapy, Misty Rainforest, Underground Sea

I'm not entirely sure what I'd do here. I'm pretty sure it's a keep, but I don't know what I'd want to name from the therapy. It's land heavy, if ponder was a brainstorm, I'd probably keep it for sure, but you're basically drawing to business, and I don't know when you'd pull the trigger on the Therapy. If they pull any non-hymn discard on you, the hand gets way worse. Ponder first. Pray second.

1B: Bug Delver, On the Play, Postboard, Mull to 6
Misty Rainforest, Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Rite of Flame, Infernal Tutor, Burning Wish

I think you just go for it here. Crack Misty for Volcanic Island, Play Petal (SC:1), LED (SC:2), RoF(SC:3, R:2), Crack Petal (SC:3, R:2, B:1), Burning Wish/LED (SC:4, R:3, B:1), Empty the Warrens (SC: 5). I contemplated playing Infernal Tutor, but decided that if they, by chance, happened to have a Surgical or something like that, you could still Burning Wish over IT.

2A: UWR Delver, On the Draw, Postboard
Rite of Flame, Dark Ritual, Gitaxian Probe, Rite of Flame, Chrome Mox.

I get into a lot of trouble keeping these hands, you get 2 draw steps basically to figure out if you can find business. Hopefully they go T1 Delver, if not, it's probably going to be much longer and grindier. Hypothetically, supposed you do draw into BW on your draw for turn. I'd play Gemstone, Probe (SC: 1) drawing Scalding Tarn, if they played Delver T1, they likely have force + backup or daze, more likely they have daze as they already bounced a blue spell from their hand, being on the play and all. Truth? Flusterstorm, Daze, Daze, Brainstorm, Wasteland, Fetchland. It's why that was a risky keep in the first place against UWR. Chrome Mox imprinting RoF (SC: 2), RoF (SC: 3, R: 2), Dark Ritual (SC: 4, B: 3, R: 2), LED (SC: 5, B:3, R: 2), Crack LED/BW (SC: 6, B:2, R: 3), Gobbos for 7. If they didn't play delver T1, you couldn't actually play around real cards, and would have just draw/go for turns until you were able to get rid of the flusterstorm or force via feigns. Take that burning wish for a thoughtseize.

2B: UWR Delver, On the Play, Postboard, Mull to 6
Gemstone Mine, Lion's Eye Diamond, Pyroblast, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gitaxian Probe, Misty Rainforest

I'd probably keep this. No business, but better than a mull to 5. Lead with Misty, hope you probe into something, not play the mine until you have to.

3A: Sneak and Show, On the Play, Postboard
Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Lotus Petal, Cabal Therapy, Rite of Flame, Underground Sea, Ponder.

Keeper. Probe. Therapy. T2 Ponder. You have 3 mana, you're looking for more fast mana source (11 outs) and 1 Business Piece (7 outs), finding one piece allows you to Thoughtseize later, and hope to put a bit more pressure on their hand T3.

3B: Sneak and Show, On the Draw, Postboard
Lotus Petal, Ponder, Ponder, Rite of Flame, Pyroblast, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island

I'd also probably keep this. Double Ponder should find you a piece of business (you'll see up to 9 cards resolving both). You can stop the initial show and tell or a piece of countermagic. Pyroblast can be both offensive if you don't find a Xantid (which without knowledge, might be a solid bet).

4A: Death and Taxes, On the Play, Preboard, Mull to 6
Burning Wish, Brainstorm, Gemstone Mine, Dark Ritual, Misty Rainforest, Dark Ritual

Keep. Gemtstone, Brainstorm. If they lead off with Wasting your land, crack Misty if there's nothing in the 2 you put back that's a mana source. You're drawing to a mana source in that case (as Dark Rit = 5 + 1 land). If you happen on an LED, I'd probably go Diminishing Returns (Storm Count 5: U: 3, B: 4, R: 0, AKA: UBB floating with DR, which according to the chart is around 70%+) , if you come upon a thoughtseize or cabal therapy, that'd work too, as your primary goal would be to get rid of a batterskull, which is liable to happen if you go for gobbos, which you still need a mana source for (either a chrome mox or lotus petal, basically a 12 outer). You can get there before Thalia lands and only have to deal with Stoneforge (Combat Math: 20-9-7-4-1).

4B: Death and Taxes, On the Draw, Preboard, Mull to 6
Chrome Mox, Lion's Eye Diamond, Gemstone Mine, Misty Rainforest, Cabal Therapy, Burning Wish

Better than a 5. Misty, Crack for Underground Sea, Therapy naming Thalia. Unless you draw a dark ritual or a second LED on the first draw step that's probably your best plan. Dark Ritual would mean, Gemstone Mine, Imprint Chrome Mox with Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual (SC: 1, B: 3), LED (SC: 2, B: 3), Burning Wish (SC: 3, B: 2, R: 3), Goblins for 4? Actually, seems worse now that I thought about it. LED though would allow you to go with Diminishing Returns. Name Thalia T1 with Cabal Therapy. T2, draw a colored card (or infernal tutor), Imprint Chrome Mox with Ponder (SC: 1), Lion's Eye Diamond (SC: 2), Lion's Eye Diamond (SC: 3), Gemstone Mine, Tap for Red, Tap Chrome Mox, Crack LED 1&2 for UUUBBB, get Diminishing Returns (SC:5, U: 1, B: 1), go from there.

[Lemnear]

3A

It's unlikely that they combo turn 1, so I would drop U.Sea, Probe (saving probe for EtW is useless) + Ponder into a second land and disrupt them from there

3B

Trop, Petal, Ponder, go. Pyroblast Backup

4A

Gemstone and eot BS to not lose to Thalia or needing a third IMS

4B

Thalia or Wasteland can screw you over regardless if you start either with gemstone -> CT or Fetchland -> pass, so an "optimal" play based on that 6 alone is not available. A lot depends on your drawn card for the turn. This is a keeper and a good start

1A

I like that one. I have no clue how you know that you are against BUG in a bigger tourney, but locally both players have the advantage to know what they are playing against. I would drop U.Sea, Ponder and drop the LED right after, possibly floating business on top into your 2nd or third turn + Cabal Therapy for their FoW

1B

2 Options: gamble 60:40 against FoW for 10 goblins or go for the grindy topdeck game against an opponent with 2 more cards available. I know which one I would choose.

2A

2 free draws and a grip full of mana feat. A peek into your opponents hand? Clear keep.

2B

Better than a mull to 5. Fetchland, go.

[Asthereal]

Its most fun if you describe
1)Are you keeping
2)if so, what is your first turn play exactly, and what is your game plan moving forward

I'll post mine later

Mine:
- All hands on the draw: Depends entirely on the card I draw from the draw step. Obviously. How would it be fun to discuss this?

- 3A: Keep. T1 Sea -> Seize. T2 depends totally on what I saw, and what I took, and what I draw during my draw step.

- 2B: Keep. Probe. Everything depends on what he holds and what I draw from Probe.

- 1B: Keep. I'd probably gamble for Empty the Warrens on turn one. Unless you know that he knows what you are on, and he looks very confident. In that case the chances are big that he has Force of Will. This is a prime example of poker skills needed in MtG.

- 4A: Keep. T1 Mine go. T2 Brainstorm, fetch, do whatever is useful with the four new cards I now see. Might be better to EOT Brainstorm before T2 though. It sees a card less, but it does give me a mana more on my turn. Lem, what would you do? This is the only interesting one, actually.

So if you have any more info, post it, so we can make informed decisions. As you see, nothing can be discussed in detail with so much information missing. Plans adjust every turn depending on freshly drawn cards and acquired information from the opposition we face.

(Edit: miscalculated the mana in 1B. Second try posted.)

[Lemnear]

Lem, what would you do? This is the only interesting one, actually.

I already posted my thoughts above your latest post ;)

[Asthereal]

I already posted my thoughts above your latest post ;)

So you would rather see a card less and gamble on the advantage of having a mana more on turn two?
Note that you are on the play, so Thalia should only come down after your turn two.
It's a trade-off, and there's something to say for either option, so it's interesting for me to see your first chocie differs from mine.

[Lemnear]

So you would rather see a card less and gamble on the advantage of having a mana more on turn two?
Note that you are on the play, so Thalia should only come down after your turn two.
It's a trade-off, and there's something to say for either option, so it's interesting for me to see your first chocie differs from mine.

Let me elaborate further: Every drawn RoF or LED is worthless if you brainstorm turn 2 unless you draw a third, initial, non-land manasource in addition or being doomed to pass and applaude your opponent for holding/drawing Thalia/Wasteland/Revoker.

[Asthereal]

Let me elaborate further: Every drawn RoF or LED is worthless if you brainstorm turn 2 unless you draw a third, initial, non-land manasource in addition or being doomed to pass and applaude your opponent for holding/drawing Thalia/Wasteland/Revoker.

Recalculating...

With the current cards in hand, we cannot win (R BBBBB plus Wish finds us Tendrils for 8).
If we play Brainstorm immidiately, we see a card less. 3 instead of 4.
We win if we find: a Petal, a Mox plus a card to imprint, a Rite, a LED.
If we play Brainstorm the next turn, we see a card more, but...
We need a Mox plus a card to import or a Petal and something else, or Infernal and LED, or a few cominations for which the chances are rediculously low. Probe and LED doesn't work because we need the fetch land.

I'm not a hero in calculating odds, but if I look at it some more, it seems you are right.
Apparently I am more of an ANT player, always looking to optimize my cantrips. I should keep that in mind and try to be aware of that fact in situations like this. Ask myself the question: should I optimize my cantrip, or is another play better?