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

[bryanzoll]

So, after reading quite a bit of material I am still a little hazy as far as sideboard slots go. I know that some people are in favor of using Abrupt Decay as a reactive strategy, and others are in favor of running a little more discard + more Xantid Swarms as a proactive strategy. I was just wondering if this type of decision is going to be player preference or if there is statistically/fundamentally some type of argument for one or the other.

[Lemnear]

So, after reading quite a bit of material I am still a little hazy as far as sideboard slots go. I know that some people are in favor of using Abrupt Decay as a reactive strategy, and others are in favor of running a little more discard + more Xantid Swarms as a proactive strategy. I was just wondering if this type of decision is going to be player preference or if there is statistically/fundamentally some type of argument for one or the other.

Those slots don't even adress the same matchups. It's not a matter of preference but of your expected metagame.

[Pelikanudo]

@Lemnear:

The idea about that strategy vs miracles and I remember also some of your notes:
- the more I.Tutor you have the faster you are and vs c.b. is something you want to have Access to.
- When M.Mage names B.W. and there is no option for destroying it I.T. is the card you need to draw
- The one you mentioned - Once c.b. lands, a 2 card cost can occurs less times.

About D&T match up, on the play I want a ponder over a tropical, I remember among other match ups in which I played vs D&T with silence in which T.I. took its place. I didn't see much the difference, I just need to take 2 useless cards and prefer T.S. and G.S over T.I., which is your priority of preference?, the context of that game was wider aniway... I think he had more beaters in hand plus vial or like... after analyzing was just bad luck. I think the 6 or 7 before D&T player I've won, in one used D.R.!

so you suggest vs Miracles:
-1 C.Mox,-1 Ponder,-1EtW, -2C.Therapy , -1I.T. = +2Pyro, +2A.Decay, +1Tropical I., +1 T.Seize as a strong strategy vs miracles. not sure. anithing better? on the Draw the same tan on the Play, I feel that sometimes not.

I've been thinking in
-1C.Mox,-1EtW-1Ponder,-1C.T. = + 3 pyro,+1T.Seize
or
-1C.Mox,-1EtW-2Ponder = +3A.D.,+1T.Island

and yes, I accepted beeing dead if my opponent draws into a Counterbalance... but is that htere are so many cards I dont want to see... and are mainly Senseis and C.b.... a senseis means he can hide a FoW on top and just loose... so On the play I just prefer to use as much discard and win as quick as posible... so that's what I want to avoid...

The thing is that in a Shell with ANT-3B.W. I really do not mind to play directly 3 A.D. in side as you're late game will be strong... but in here not always A.D. is the card you need or makes you win the game... thats why I maybe prefer even more discard or pyros.

@Final Fortune any suggestion for Strong Side vs Miracles?
Sure yours is +1T.Seize+1Pyro = -1EtW,-1Ponder...


@Bryant and Royce: Any strong good idea vs Miracles tested?

[Lemnear]

@Lemnear:

The idea about that strategy vs miracles and I remember also some of your notes:
- the more I.Tutor you have the faster you are and vs c.b. is something you want to have Access to.
- When M.Mage names B.W. and there is no option for destroying it I.T. is the card you need to draw
- The one you mentioned - Once c.b. lands, a 2 card cost can occurs less times.

If your plan is to race Miracles, the Infernal does it's job. Most matches you start on the draw however become a grindfest in which you don't want to draw dead Infernals which are useless if your opponent locks your mana under the Counterbalance and can ignore his/her inability to counter the Infernal itself. Meddling Mage is the reason you have Decay and Pyroblast in your SB.

About D&T match up, on the play I want a ponder over a tropical, I remember among other match ups in which I played vs D&T with silence in which T.I. took its place. I didn't see much the difference, I just need to take 2 useless cards and prefer T.S. and G.S over T.I., which is your priority of preference?, the context of that game was wider aniway... I think he had more beaters in hand plus vial or like... after analyzing was just bad luck. I think the 6 or 7 before D&T player I've won, in one used D.R.!

I prefer the Tropical if my plan B includes aggressive Mulligans into a hand capable to combo T1/2. I take CoV over TS in that matchup any day of the week thanks to their hatebear density to topdeck. I don't want to waste my T1/2 for the SB TS to strip a Thalia, just to see them topdeck a Wasteland/Canonist/etc.

so you suggest vs Miracles:
-1 C.Mox,-1 Ponder,-1EtW, -2C.Therapy , -1I.T. = +2Pyro, +2A.Decay, +1Tropical I., +1 T.Seize as a strong strategy vs miracles. not sure. anithing better? on the Draw the same tan on the Play, I feel that sometimes not.

You can do that, even if I'd prefer leaving the Seize in the SB and keeping the Ponder. On the play you can T1 Ponder and turn 2 keep red open for a Pyroblast. On the draw your T1 Seize can be answered by Brainstorm, Pierce, Flusterstorm and FoW to still land a CB. At least on the draw I would prepare for the long game

I've been thinking in
-1C.Mox,-1EtW-1Ponder,-1C.T. = + 3 pyro,+1T.Seize
or
-1C.Mox,-1EtW-2Ponder = +3A.D.,+1T.Island

I adressed this already. If you are ballsy, try something along the first one. I don't like 3 AD atm because their use is limited.

and yes, I accepted beeing dead if my opponent draws into a Counterbalance... but is that htere are so many cards I dont want to see... and are mainly Senseis and C.b.... a senseis means he can hide a FoW on top and just loose... so On the play I just prefer to use as much discard and win as quick as posible... so that's what I want to avoid...

The thing is that in a Shell with ANT-3B.W. I really do not mind to play directly 3 A.D. in side as you're late game will be strong... but in here not always A.D. is the card you need or makes you win the game... thats why I maybe prefer even more discard or pyros.

I just refuse to plain lose to a CB making it to the field somehow. That's all. I'm interrested how well discard+ Pyro works overall. Damnit! WotC needs to print an uncounterable Pyroblast which would solve all problems :)

@Final Fortune any suggestion for Strong Side vs Miracles?
Sure yours is +1T.Seize+1Pyro = -1EtW,-1Ponder...


@Bryant and Royce: Any strong good idea vs Miracles tested?

[bryanzoll]

Alright, going to a local weekly tournament of roughly 9-18 players (varies each week).

Here is the deck list I plan on bringing:

1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual

4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Burning Wish
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
3 Infernal Tutor
4 Rite of Flame
1 Empty the Warrens

4 Lions Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Chrome Mox

4 Gemstone Mine
4 Fetch lands
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island

Sideboard:
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Tropical Island
1 Pyroblast
2 Xantid Swarm
1 Bribery (There are going to be 3x 12post players and 1 Show and Tell player...metagame call)
1 Grapeshot
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Massacre
1 Past in Flames
1 Thoughtseize
1 Infernal Tutor

Wish me luck and does anyone have any advice for taking really good game notes without slowing play down? I want to be able to write up my matches and see if you guys can provide advice for some of my misplays.

[Bryant Cook]

I wish I could get away with six Cabal Therapy. You sure are a braver man than I.

[bryanzoll]

I wish I could get away with six Cabal Therapy. You sure are a braver man than I.

Hahaha, sorry about that. I meant 2 Cabal Ritual. I'll try to edit the post

[ThomasDowd]

Wish me luck and does anyone have any advice for taking really good game notes without slowing play down? I want to be able to write up my matches and see if you guys can provide advice for some of my misplays.

2 letter shorthand or just abbreviations is my method.

I find two letters covers most everything

[Togores]

Google glases?

Yeah 2 letters should be enought ^^

I still write led but just cause im used to.

[sawatarix]

I'm also a fan of just 6 discard spells because if you sequence you spells wisely your rituals become "duresses" (your opponent will counter them)

I remember a 7 round tournament 7 weeks ago.
My friend robert (known as cabal therapy" here ) and i played storm and after round 2 he said: "i just crushed both team america and rug delver 2:0 without casting a single discard spell !"

Amazing guy


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Rafael Benedetti]

Hi! I am new here, this is my list I have been playing ( I am from Brazil and I am sorry if my english is not so good), I wouldn't change anything since my lasts champs I did x-0, x-1 with reanimators and sneak and shows. Miracles will always be a very hard match but not impossible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAI4Sy1t5Co


I would like to know what you guys think about this:

1 Ad Nauseam
4 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
3 Silence

4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Burning Wish
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Infernal Tutor
4 Rite of Flame
1 Empty the Warrens

4 Lions Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
3 Chrome Mox

4 Gemstone Mine
4 Fetch lands
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
2 City of brass


Sideboard:
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Tropical Island
2 Xantid Swarm
1 Grapeshot
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Massacre
1 Past in Flames
1 Infernal Tutor
1 ill-gotten gains

[sawatarix]

You simply cut the best business spell for a land right?
I wouldn't do that for sure.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Rafael Benedetti]

Yeah, I don't like play 12 lands and I always played with infernal in the sideboard, that allows me do ad nauseam with burning wish. Never had a problem with it.

[Lemnear]

Would you let me know what the metagame in your area of brazil looks lik so 5c with Silence can still pull it's weight?

[Rafael Benedetti]

Would you let me know what the metagame in your area of brazil looks lik so 5c with Silence can still pull it's weight?

Sure, reanimator, sneak and show, D&T, Jund, sometimes goblins but what I most see here is the esper decks or uwr decks with TNN. I really like silence, against leyline and you can avoid the counter on the top with sensei's divining top.

[Bryant Cook]

I started the overhaul on the opening post yesterday. Looking forward to writing a lot more today!

[wonderPreaux]

Lately I've been running into an issue against decks just aggressively Wastelanding me out of games. Against Delver decks it's harsh trying to deal with a fast clock, especially with Daze, and against BUG/Blade decks they can use DRS as an allowance to Wasteland me while retaining the ability to play discard spells and keep Planeswalkers within reach. Looking back through the thread, I've seen suggestion of playing a 13th land mainboard, or siding cards like Carpet of Flowers, but neither idea seems to prevail in the thread as worthwhile. Another worry is that a slow hand of multiple lands, or even mulling into a hand with multiple lands leaves me vulnerable to take more damage from the faster decks, and eat more discard from the control decks.

Is this just one of those things of sometimes they have Delver -> Waste+Daze/DRS -> Waste+Hymn and I just have to accept those losses or is there some tech card i can make if I expect a meta like that? Carpet seems to be the closest answer, but even then it can be played around. I ask because a lot of MTGO dailies have involved me getting Waste'd out pretty badly by BUG/RUG stuff, and any particular build of hate or engines just gets rendered irrelevant because I can't play any of my cards whatsoever.

[BrettF]

@WonderPreaux

I would say fundamentally if you are getting wasted/discarded out of games it is because you are playing around countermagic a bit too much with your potential turn 1/2 combo. Be daring! Theres times to be cautious and times to raise hell. "picking your spot" is definitely one of the hardest aspects of the deck. Once you start losing your games to countermagic you can go back to exposing yourself to wasteland and you'll find your spot eventually.

[Jaycounet]

Went to tournament last saturday and finish 3-2 with the new list (love it sincerely)
win against bug - 12 post - and tezzeret deck

loose againt miracle with hawfull hand allways draw counter if counterbalance was not in place and after a decay to start a counterspell again it was like this during 2 games just awfull match couldnt do anything

loose the last one show and tell deck first one i wasn't quick enough
second one add in 2 xantid + 2 pyroblast put xantid firs turn ok took wipeaway put back xantid for fow ... manage to get 11 mana in my pool to many storm to cast adnauseam for force of will enough to cast tutor for tendril but took spellpierce ... i would have prefer to get one duress instead of mana or silence

but i was really happy with this deck after long time without playing magic.

i feel the deck is quicker than before (if it was posible) but maybe a bit less protected again blue anyway take pleasure to play with it

[Lemnear]

Lately I've been running into an issue against decks just aggressively Wastelanding me out of games. Against Delver decks it's harsh trying to deal with a fast clock, especially with Daze, and against BUG/Blade decks they can use DRS as an allowance to Wasteland me while retaining the ability to play discard spells and keep Planeswalkers within reach. Looking back through the thread, I've seen suggestion of playing a 13th land mainboard, or siding cards like Carpet of Flowers, but neither idea seems to prevail in the thread as worthwhile. Another worry is that a slow hand of multiple lands, or even mulling into a hand with multiple lands leaves me vulnerable to take more damage from the faster decks, and eat more discard from the control decks.

Is this just one of those things of sometimes they have Delver -> Waste+Daze/DRS -> Waste+Hymn and I just have to accept those losses or is there some tech card i can make if I expect a meta like that? Carpet seems to be the closest answer, but even then it can be played around. I ask because a lot of MTGO dailies have involved me getting Waste'd out pretty badly by BUG/RUG stuff, and any particular build of hate or engines just gets rendered irrelevant because I can't play any of my cards whatsoever.

Let me mention first that the switch to more fetches and reduced color requirement for a protected combo turn adressed this issue already, which was the reason for trying out cards like Carpet or the 13th MB land. As your question contains a number of factors and decks, we need to split them up.

Fast Damage with Wasteland:
The only 2 viable ways to kill opponents that ride Delver on the back of Wasteland is either dropping goblins so you can ignore your previous lifeloss or setup a natural spellchain (playing 8 vs. 7 cards) as you have quite some turns to dig for lands. Depending on your starting grip you choose to work into one of the mentioned directions. You can sit in your fetchlands and just expose Rainbows to their wastelands for cantripping/Wish for discard and drawing out counters

Waste + DRS + Hymn:
Turn 1 U.Sea plus DRS telegraphs such a blowout and Probe can reveal it in time. Depending on being on the draw or play you have 1-2 turns to either drop goblins/fire off AN to be faster than Wasteland + Hymn (pretty much the same gameplan like against D&T) or dropping all your mana and playing the deck off the top after you boarded in your 13th land to do so. TES can win against wasteland/Hymn.dec with an empty hand too.

You don't need more than the already available 13th land in the SB against those decks if you adapt your playstyle to your opponents decks. Getting constantly blown out by wasteland plus either fast damage or discard sounds like keeping business/cantrip-heavy hands with fragile mana to plow through several counters which aren't even there. Goblins, natural chain (damage + wasteland) and playing off the top (wasteland + hymn) are your bread and butter in these 2 matchups. Planning your game around Ad Nauseam in these matchups will fail.

i was really happy with this deck after long time without playing magic.

i feel the deck is quicker than before (if it was posible) but maybe a bit less protected again blue anyway take pleasure to play with it

It was quite some time I did not saw you around here. Welcome home :)

The deck indeed got faster by now no longer needing white mana for Silence but a total of 2 IMS' only for a protected combo turn as blanking Envelop or Stifle was no longer required in the current metagame, which offered new Problems in form of multiple axis of hate