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

[Lemnear]

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?

I hope you and other readers are not mad at me that I kept my initial response to Bretts examples short as I was going to the gym as I wrote those. With the Eot-Brainstorm you only need to hit RoF, Petal, Mox feat. Imprint, LED or an Infernal aka 17 possible outs to combo turn 2 while you had only 6 (Moxen + Petals) for that if you BS turn 2. That's all I had in mind for my snap-judgement, no %ages or such :)

[d0nkey]

- 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.

Like Lemnear said, brainstorming at EOT is the right move because you need black and red to combo off on T2 ( assuming you don't see a petal, mox or ad nauseum ). And since it's D&T, we probably want to make an attempt at going off before their 2 drops hit.

[Asthereal]

I hope you and other readers are not mad at me that I kept my initial response to Bretts examples short as I was going to the gym as I wrote those. With the Eot-Brainstorm you only need to hit RoF, Petal, Mox feat. Imprint, LED or an Infernal aka 17 possible outs to combo turn 2 while you had only 6 (Moxen + Petals) for that if you BS turn 2. That's all I had in mind for my snap-judgement, no %ages or such :)

LOL I don't get mad that fast.

My snap-judgement was: "Brainstorm on turn two is a better Brainstorm. I see a card more that way."
But I should not forget that, while Brainstorm is the best card in Legacy, it doesn't actually do anything, so casting it might cause me to lose instead. A lovely turn two Brainstorm into fetch into Ponder is great and all, but if the opponent then goes Show>Omni>Enter I stand corrected by the sheer power of cards that actually do stuff. Like "draw your deck" instead of "draw a few cards that might help later on".

Edit: come to think of it, it might actually be correct to cast Brainstorm in our main phase of turn one. Death and Taxes plays no discard, so we don't have to keep our Brainstorm to protect important cards in hand. And there is an outside chance that we draw into a turn one combo (LED, LED, Probe / Petal, Petal, Rite or LED / Infernal, LED, Petal or Mox). I think this outweighs the chance that they might make a play error and Waste our land on turn one, which might mess up our plan a bit. Yes this is a play error, since it slows down their fundamental Hate Bear turn.

[Lemnear]

I'm an idiot: Forgot that EtW and Ad Nauseam itself are also possible outs! So that actually mean having 19 outs instead of 17 if you cast brainstorm end of turn xP


@Asthereal
I do not like the mainphase BS here as you are not looking for just 1 card only to explode. Being able to adjust you hand in case there is indeed a wasteland coming might be more relevant. Won't matter much

[Asthereal]

I'm an idiot: Forgot that EtW and Ad Nauseam itself are also possible outs! So that actually mean having 19 outs instead of 17 if you cast brainstorm end of turn xP

True.

Edit: But if the Wasteland does come, which does seem like a fine first land to play, trying to mess with the mind of the Storm player, he could still use it after we Brainstorm EOT, or during our upkeep. So that wouldn't make much of a difference, except for the fact that you then know he might use Wasteland. A good D&T player shouldn't use it though, so it shouldn't be of big concern. Trying to gamble on a 1 in 1.000 chance of finding a turn one combo, just to give him one turn less to draw an offbeat Mindbreak Trap seems overelaborate. Still, it's an idea.

[Lemnear]

True. But what do you think about casting Brainstorm in our turn one main phase?

See: Lightning edit xD


Edit: I see ... you responded to my instant-editing with an interrupt-edit yourself ;)

[Asthereal]

See: Lightning edit xD

Edit: I see ... you responded to my instant-editing with an interrupt-edit yourself ;)

LOOOOOLLLL stop posting so fast!
Edited my post again. Ninjas, ninjas everywhere!

[Lemnear]

LOOOOOLLLL stop posting so fast!
Edited my post again. Ninjas, ninjas everywhere!

Dood, I'm playing storm ... giving people time to respond isn't my thing xD

[Asthereal]

Dood, I'm playing storm ... giving people time to respond isn't my thing xD

Hehe nope not really.

I'm not posting anything else than this. I'll just wait for your ninja-edit about my other edit, so I can edit this one in response. I'm Chief Editor for a reason.

[BrettF]

1A: On the draw // Bug Delver // preboard // opening 7
LED, Ponder, Drit, Mine, Therapy, Misty, USea

Keep.
Ponder t1 to float some business under 2nd from top and play out the LED, cast Therapy t2, go off turn 3.



1B: On the play // Bug Delver // preboard // mull to 6
Misty, Petal, LED, RoF, Infernal, Wish

Keep.
Gamble 60/40! Misty for U.sea, Search for empty with Infernal. This leaves you with 10 goblins, USea to utilize any topdecked discard, and also stocks your graveyard with Infernal, Burning, and rite of flame, which could end up saving you a lot of mana on a past in flames backup plan.

2A: On the draw // UWR delver // postboard // opening 7


RoF,RoF, Drit, LED, Probe, Mox, Mine

Keep.
You get two new cards on your turn and your happy to see any tutors or discard. You already have enough rituals to past in flames so anything goes.

2B: On the play // UWR Delver // postboard // mull to 6


LED, LED, Probe, Pyro, Misty, Mine

Keep.
Cast Gitaxian T1. If they have no FOW and i draw a Ponder or Brainstorm, i’m gonna cast the cantrip breaking both LEDs for BBBRRR. (unless their hand is truly bad)


3A: On the play // Sneak and show // postboard // opening 7
Probe, Seize, Petal, Therapy, RoF, USea, Ponder

Keep.
Probe on T1. Probably ponder unless they represent a T1 combo. If you can’t go straight over their head with a combo, try to cantrip into a Xantid and use your discard to make sure they show and tell instead of sneak attack. Try to achieve the “Xantid Swingback technique” after they show and tell.

On the draw // Sneak and Show // Postboard // opening 7


3B: Volc, RoF, Pyro, Trop, Ponder, Ponder, Petal

Mulligan.
This one is a really hard decision. Trop into ponder, cast petal, pass. Counter show and tell if they cast it. If you find a xantid you could use the pyro to make sure it resolves on turn 2. Otherwise I could counter a ponder or something, or hold out for show and tell? I really don’t wanna be the control deck here which is why i would mulligan. A six card hand with a thoughtseize or a fast combo would be more my style.



4A: On the play // DNT // preboard // mull to 6
Wish, Brainstorm, Drit, Drit, Mine, Misty

Keep.
I think leading on misty and then brainstorm on their endstep is the best bet for playing around wasteland. Leading with mine optimizes your turn 2 cantrips but thats not aggressive enough to beat the lock i think. If i can’t make more than 10 goblins i’ll diminishing returns.

4B: On the draw // DNT // preboard // mull to 6
Mox, LED, Mine, Misty, Therapy, Wish

Keep.
If i draw a DR, Rof, LED, or LP for the turn I’m going to go into a diminishing returns. If i draw anything slower i have to go for the hand attack and pass the turn.
 10 goblins without therapy in the yard isnt gonna cut it, and even 12 goblins is playing 60/40 VS stoneforge. Hopefully i get enough mana to DimRet floating a black so i can thoughtseize their new hand if i don’t miraculously win.



These hands were just some of the first ones i took screen shots of on cockatrice. Next time i’ll try to get some more complex ones, and maybe even a few midgame (aka turn 2) scenarios.

[Lemnear]

On 4A again:

I'm aware that the Fetchland would not necessarily provoke a Wasteland compared to the Gemstone, but personally I'm maybe too afraid of Brainstorm-locking myself. However, the BS-lock would be for only a single turn in that case for the benefit to play around the turn 1 Wasteland. I think you are correct about leading with the Misty instead of the Gemstone here.

[Bryant Cook]

Ari wrote an article on storm this week, it's interesting.

[sawatarix]

Where can i find it Bryant?


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Bryant Cook]

Starcitygames.com

[Lemnear]

Ari wrote an article on storm this week, it's interesting.

Meh, premium. Anyone want to spoiler a few lines here and there?

[Marcelo65]

Meh, premium. Anyone want to spoiler a few lines here and there?

I can paraphrase some parts since Ari consulted me to give him some insights to the deck. But on the other hand, I am not sure if this would violate SCG's copyrights.
Nonetheless, a very well-written piece of literature.

[sawatarix]

Wow you 2 must be very close friends,i'm kinda jealous.




- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Lemnear]

I can paraphrase some parts since Ari consulted me to give him some insights to the deck. But on the other hand, I am not sure if this would violate SCG's copyrights.
Nonetheless, a very well-written piece of literature.

And you told Ari about the insane value of "Chrome Mox, no imprint, go". Nice tale, Robert. What about using at least one of your multiple accounts on TheSource to create some quality posts at times? All the trolling you guys put together was kinda funny for a while even if my fun is based in how much time you actually dedicate for that.

[davelin]

Meh, premium. Anyone want to spoiler a few lines here and there?

At a high level the author says that the metagame shifts with regards to tempo, combo and other archetypes have made playing storm much more unfavorable than it was previously.

[Marcelo65]

And you told Ari about the insane value of "Chrome Mox, no imprint, go". Nice tale, Robert. What about using at least one of your multiple accounts on TheSource to create some quality posts at times? All the trolling you guys put together was kinda funny for a while even if my fun is based in how much time you actually dedicate for that.

This accusation certainly does not belong in here, Peter. This thread is about the Legacy Storm-combo-deck: TES and not about stating that someone has "multiple accounts", is "trolling", whatsoever. Let's not start to lower the quality of this forum but instead talk about this awesome deck. Sorry if this post does not contain on-topic content but I feel like I have to state again that I do not want to troll or make funny of people which was the main charge in my tournament report. Cheers.