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

[bryanzoll]

Hey all,

I went 2-2 (with 1 bye =/ ...) last week. Losing to 12post and show and tell and beating RUG Delver.

Round 1 - 12Post

Game 1 against 12post I make 24 Goblins turn 2 (was only able to generate red mana!!!) and then lost to an off-the-top singleton engineered explosives...got past it, moved on.

Game 2 I mulled to 5 and kept a hand with underground, ponder, brainstorm, dark ritual, lotus petal. Pondered and saw 3 lands, shuffled up and drew a volcanic island. Next turn I drew Cabal Therapy so I Cabal Therapied my opponent naming Force of Will (HE HAD 2!!!) but also had a Glen Elendra and Flusterstorm =(. Brainstormed to see land, Tendrils, LED. Bricked pretty hard and eneded up getting locked out.

0-1

Round 2

(Bye)

1-1

Round 3 - RUG Delver

Game 1 my opponent plays turn 1 delver and passes. I had duress, fetch, 2x dark ritual, lotus petal, ad nauseam, underground. I start off with a duress that reveals 2x Force of Will, Spell Pierce, Ponder, Wasteland....go figure. Needless to say, I wasn't winning this game but I tried. I took a FoW and passed the turn. His Delver flipped revealing Stifle (join the party), wasted my land and passed. I drew another dark ritual played my fetch and passed. 2 turns later I scooped it up after goose was loose.

Game 2 Duress, took his opening hand FoW, then proceeded to make 12 goblins...he didn't play magic that game.

Game 3 Turn 1 he slammed down Pithing Needle naming LED. I laughed a bit on the inside and allowed it (not like I can respond to it with anything with it anyways). I forgot what my grip was exactly, but I ended up storming him out with a natural tendrils on my turn 3 without needing the help of an LED. After the game, I kindly explained that Pithing Needle doesn't stop mana abilities and that if he wanted to stop LEDs, he should play revokers.

2-1

Round 4 - Sneak n' Show

Game 1 I lose the die roll and to a turn 1 Emrakul. I made 16 goblins....that was cool.

Game 2 Double mulligan, kept a hand with some business a land and a ponder. His turn 1 he got Emrakul into play....

2-2

All in all I felt like I didn't do anything completely incorrect, if anything I need to learn better hands to keep and I think better ways to sideboard. All of that comes with time.

Does anyone have any advice on how to play against Sneak and Show?? Or did I just get blown out both games to a turn 1 Emrakul and there wasn't much I could do about it?

Thanks,

Bryan

[Lemnear]

-snip-

Game 2 I mulled to 5 and kept a hand with underground, ponder, brainstorm, dark ritual, lotus petal. Pondered and saw 3 lands, shuffled up and drew a volcanic island. Next turn I drew Cabal Therapy so I Cabal Therapied my opponent naming Force of Will (HE HAD 2!!!) but also had a Glen Elendra and Flusterstorm =(. Brainstormed to see land, Tendrils, LED. Bricked pretty hard and eneded up getting locked out.

0-1

I have a lot of questions here. First, why do you need to mull to 5? 2 hands without any initial mana sources? Why did you board in ToA? EtW would have been golden. Brainstorm was fired off too soon if you a) can't play around Flusterstorm regardless and b) you need all your cards you already had in hand.

-snip-

Round 4 - Sneak n' Show

Game 1 I lose the die roll and to a turn 1 Emrakul. I made 16 goblins....that was cool.

Game 2 Double mulligan, kept a hand with some business a land and a ponder. His turn 1 he got Emrakul into play....

2-2

Again: why mull twice? Never had the option to blind-therapy for S&T or having a probe? Why did you make 16 Goblins in game 1 if you can't win anyways and reveal that you are playing TES? Just for fun and helping your opponent to sideboard?

All in all I felt like I didn't do anything completely incorrect, if anything I need to learn better hands to keep and I think better ways to sideboard. All of that comes with time.

Does anyone have any advice on how to play against Sneak and Show?? Or did I just get blown out both games to a turn 1 Emrakul and there wasn't much I could do about it?

Thanks,

Bryan

[wonderPreaux]

@Brett/Lemnear Thanks for the advice. Looking back on my streams, and some games i played over the weekend, I did notice I'd be keeping Wish/Ponder-heavy hands, which, funnily enough, ended up being quite ponderous and left me wishing for lands. While I'd be reluctant to mull hands like that, especially against discard, since they look like they could be made to work, I can see now how they can end up being traps to Wasteland, and when I'm locked out of the game its kinda irrelevant how few/many cards I have in my grip.

To expand the concept, Deathblade decks on the faster/greedier end of the spectrum can give the same troubles as BUG decks with DRS/Wasteland/Discard, but with the added wrinkle of sweepers against Goblins. Would I then be leaning towards trying at some manner of spell-chain/PiF after potentially Massacring or Pyroblasting as necessary? It seems that, being a more controlling presentation of the same obstacles, it would make sense to try for the longer sequences like a spell-chain of PiF, since getting blown out by Marsh Casualties/Zealous Persecution is pretty devastating, especially since they can be powered off DRS + an initial land drop.

[Lemnear]

@Brett/Lemnear Thanks for the advice. Looking back on my streams, and some games i played over the weekend, I did notice I'd be keeping Wish/Ponder-heavy hands, which, funnily enough, ended up being quite ponderous and left me wishing for lands. While I'd be reluctant to mull hands like that, especially against discard, since they look like they could be made to work, I can see now how they can end up being traps to Wasteland, and when I'm locked out of the game its kinda irrelevant how few/many cards I have in my grip.

To expand the concept, Deathblade decks on the faster/greedier end of the spectrum can give the same troubles as BUG decks with DRS/Wasteland/Discard, but with the added wrinkle of sweepers against Goblins. Would I then be leaning towards trying at some manner of spell-chain/PiF after potentially Massacring or Pyroblasting as necessary? It seems that, being a more controlling presentation of the same obstacles, it would make sense to try for the longer sequences like a spell-chain of PiF, since getting blown out by Marsh Casualties/Zealous Persecution is pretty devastating, especially since they can be powered off DRS + an initial land drop.

I rarely have ever seen a Deathblade list, which are usually UWBg, running wastelands. Running fast creatures like Delver isn't typical either. The problem with deathblade is complete different than the one with BUG: Hatebears. Deathblade decks have Discard/counter/hatebears and here the Massacre and Pyroblasts (Meddling Mage) shine unlike against BUG. Ad Nauseam is a fine Strategy here as well as Goblins are if you have Cabal Therapy at hand to clean sweepers and fetched Batterskulls. It's a pretty slow matchup and you can sit on you Discard for quite a while in preboard games.

[wonderPreaux]

I rarely have ever seen a Deathblade list, which are usually UWBg, running wastelands. Running fast creatures like Delver isn't typical either. The problem with deathblade is complete different than the one with BUG: Hatebears. Deathblade decks have Discard/counter/hatebears and here the Massacre and Pyroblasts (Meddling Mage) shine unlike against BUG. Ad Nauseam is a fine Strategy here as well as Goblins are if you have Cabal Therapy at hand to clean sweepers and fetched Batterskulls. It's a pretty slow matchup and you can sit on you Discard for quite a while in preboard games.

Must just be me then. I've encountered a few Deathblade shells that went really greedy on the DRS interaction and Wasteland'd me while dropping Confidant/SFM and then, postboard, Meddling Mages while holding up counters. It seems like one of those builds where when the cards line up its hard to crack.

[Lemnear]

Must just be me then. I've encountered a few Deathblade shells that went really greedy on the DRS interaction and Wasteland'd me while dropping Confidant/SFM and then, postboard, Meddling Mages while holding up counters. It seems like one of those builds where when the cards line up its hard to crack.

I hope we are not seriously discussing options against a 4c manabase with wastelands that somehow does not screw its pilot while he can sequence DRS into Wasteland + Meddling Mage into SFM/Bob + Thoughtseize during turn 3 and all while holding up FoW + blue card ;)

I neither have a definitive solution for Counter + Wasteland + Hatebear on turn 2 (potentially with you on the draw) for now even if I maybe have an idea in my head....

[wonderPreaux]

I hope we are not seriously discussing options against a 4c manabase with wastelands that somehow does not screw its pilot while he can sequence DRS into Wasteland + Meddling Mage into SFM/Bob + Thoughtseize during turn 3 and all while holding up FoW + blue card ;)

I neither have a definitive solution for Counter + Wasteland + Hatebear on turn 2 (potentially with you on the draw) for now even if I maybe have an idea in my head....

idk how seriously to take it either, tbh, its just stuff i seem to run into. it's just super frustrating when all their pieces just seem to fit together

really, look at this: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=7291&d=241771 how does this deck even get playable hands, ya know. and this was at an scg: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=7261&d=241605 its bananas

[bryanzoll]

@Lemnear

In response to your questions about why I had to mulligan to 5 in two separate instances. I am sorry but I can't recall what caused me to mulligan, I just remember looking at hands and thinking "this won't get me there." (I will take better notes on mulligans from now on)

I think it all falls into line with me still not know what hands are really keepable and which hands are not. That to me seems like something that comes with experience from piloting the deck.

However, I am very open to discussing certain starting hands with you and discussing the pros and cons about different cards in the opening grip.

[KaiSchafroth]

@Lemnear

In response to your questions about why I had to mulligan to 5 in two separate instances. I am sorry but I can't recall what caused me to mulligan, I just remember looking at hands and thinking "this won't get me there." (I will take better notes on mulligans from now on)

I think it all falls into line with me still not know what hands are really keepable and which hands are not. That to me seems like something that comes with experience from piloting the deck.

However, I am very open to discussing certain starting hands with you and discussing the pros and cons about different cards in the opening grip.

If you haven't seen them the 'sample opening hands' in the first few posts do a bit of explaining on why one hand is or is not keepable. While it might not be card for card (obviously) you can get a general idea of what the read is on the hand and relate it to your experiences.

Taking notes is SUPER critical for learning this deck. As some others have done in previous pages; providing opening hand, game notes, etc. helps us evaluate a line of play and make recommendations/critique. There's far too much going on to really give great answers/help without knowing exactly what was in the grip

[bryanzoll]

Hey all,

So I have tried reading up more about TES and I am still confused with sideboarding, not so much in the sense of what to bring in against certain matchups...More so is there a document somewhere that lists cards that should never be removed and cards that are ok to side out?

Thanks,

Bryan

[Lemnear]

Hey all,

So I have tried reading up more about TES and I am still confused with sideboarding, not so much in the sense of what to bring in against certain matchups...More so is there a document somewhere that lists cards that should never be removed and cards that are ok to side out?

Thanks,

Bryan

Ok to remove one (sometimes two):
- Infernal (slow matchups like BUg Control or Miracles)
- Ponder (Matchups where you have to explode asap like D&T)
- Duress (Creature-heavy matchups)
- Mox (see Infernal)

Never:
- Gitaxian Probe (no, never. Could write an article about that and probably will)
- +2/+3 manasources like LED/DR
- Brainstorm (shifting gears)
- Petals
- Lands


Feel free to chime in guys

[bryanzoll]

Ok to remove one (sometimes two):
- Infernal (slow matchups like BUg Control or Miracles)

Just want to confirm, if the current deck list only runs 3 in the main, is it ok to shave down to 2?

Thanks,

Bryan

[sawatarix]

Lemnear meant to shave the 4th infernal tutor.
No stormdeck on earth should run less than 3 in the deck.
The 4th one can be wished.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Lemnear]

Just want to confirm, if the current deck list only runs 3 in the main, is it ok to shave down to 2?

Thanks,

Bryan

Lemnear meant to shave the 4th infernal tutor.
No stormdeck on earth should run less than 3 in the deck.
The 4th one can be wished.


- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

Indeed. It was more aimed towards the Ponder and Duress which you can remove 2 in case of need (obviously if you run 2 Duress). You can also cut some Therapies in matchups where you board out EtW to make more room for other cards (Pyroblast & Xantid against S&T), but I did not want to create a SB guide by mentioning all circumstances of boarding x & y.

I just wanted Probes and the fastmana in the spotlight, because people tend to see G.Probe as a filler and board these out (in both, ANT & TES) which is absolutely wrong and a clear sign they did not understand the card.

[sawatarix]

Yep, having perfect information is crucial in an all-in deck like storm.

Moreover probe+brainstorm+led is great to cast big spells (ad nauseam,past in flames,...) with led mana.



- Team RUG-STAR Berlin -

[Bryant Cook]

An update: I'm probably about 2/3rds done rewriting, hopefully I can provide something this weekend or early next week.

[Xami]

Looking forward to the rewrite! I've been goldfishing games and am about to run it out into some small local tournaments once or twice a week and see what else I need to learn

[wonderPreaux]

Hi again, everyone. While we all wait for Bryant's update, I thought I'd bring up a card that's been getting a lot of hype in the ANT thread, Young Pyromancer. Young Pyromancer has been getting attention as a way to aggressively pressure slow decks like Miracles on the ground, without requiring an "all-in" commitment like Empty the Warrens. So, never to leave a stone unturned, I figured I'd take the topic here and see what becomes of it.

The most obvious allure of Young Pyromancer is the effectiveness with which TES can ramp into it turn 1. Accelerating into Pyromancer means more turns where you get rewarded simply for playing cards (if there's one thing Storm players love, it's getting rewarded for playing cards, right?), TES boasts Rite and Petal for this purpose, while ANT only has Petal.

Pyromancer also makes natural spell chains more viable, albeit indirectly, by making all your intermediary cantrips and discards into damage sources (though we have fewer of these cards than ANT). We also can exploit the synergy with Cabal Therapy to devastating effect.

It isn't all roses, though. Fewer lands, and the relatively higher cost of cards like Wish compared to cards like Preordain, means that its more difficult to exploit the Pyromancer, even though we have more ways to rush him to the table. Further, our sideboard is always wanting for space and Pyroblast and Decay are already good against a variety of matchups.

Despite recent talk in the ANT thread of Pyromancer being effective in the Delver matchups, I don't think Pyromancer is a very big player in matchups other than control. Pyromancer running into Bolt/Daze just isn't that appealing, its a different ballgame against control where sticking damage against a 'walker or lowering the bar for a combo while still only "risking" one card to a sweeper is relevant. I think Pyromancer does give you license to aggressively contest control decks, and if you were to extend that logic to some prison decks, you could perhaps try a very greedy sideboard with Pyromancer over something like Abrupt Decay, but idk how well that would work out.

I might take it for a spin on stream if I hammer out a more balanced approach to siding it, but atm it just comes off as an aggressive gimmick. Has anyone else been considering the Red dude?

[JPoJohnson]

I feel like it may be better placed as an alternate sided into strat for belcher that TES personally. Let me know how testing goes though! (:

[Lemnear]

@Wonderpreaux

I'm testing this dood for more than 2 weeks now as mentioned on Twitter, but still trying to forgive out which SB slots are expendable