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

  1. #5621

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Lemnear View Post
    Edit: Playing against miracles again and again is crap for any storm deck. Period. There are however quite some sneaky techs to try if you have some self loathing and want to keep storming in an field full of Miracles. A tech you can try are Young Pyromancers which Kai championed in Prague in an ANT shell while TES can even drop them T1 on a more reliable base unlike its storm twin and care less for Leylines, Canonists, Meddling Mages or spells getting stuck in the Counterbalance
    I know running into Miracles over and over prolly isn't good odds, its just awful running into the fun-police day after day, which is sort of why I think of this as a cold streak. I tried the Pyromancer tech a while ago, and my main gripe about it is just that its hard to get there on it's own, even if they do board out all the removal, there's SCM, Clique and the occasional hatebear/Batterskull. Though, I have yet to try Pyromancer + Pithing Needle, I'd only ever tried the techs separately. If the Miracle decks don't go away, I'll either explore the Pyro/Pithing sb or I might switch to a more "Grinding Station" sort of deck, since my self-loathing/storm-love is just too overwhelming to try and full-out metagame the Miracles decks with something like Goblins (the deck, not the storm card :P).

  2. #5622
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by wonderPreaux View Post
    If the Miracle decks don't go away, I'll either explore the Pyro/Pithing sb or I might switch to a more "Grinding Station" sort of deck, since my self-loathing/storm-love is just too overwhelming to try and full-out metagame the Miracles decks with something like Goblins (the deck, not the storm card :P).
    You could try a Doomsday list. Doomsday has way more options to fight Miracles than any other Storm variant.

  3. #5623
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Asthereal View Post
    You could try a Doomsday list. Doomsday has way more options to fight Miracles than any other Storm variant.
    I can confirm that. It also appears some ANT players are now preferring to run multiple Sensei's Divining Tops in the sideboard instead of Young Pyromancers to grind out that matchup. Doomsday already runs 4 of those and also plays more lands because you don't run Infernal Tutor, which helps in grindy matchups. You can still sideboard 4 Abrupt Decays if you want and you may even go as far as sideboarding Shelldock Isle and Emrakul. However, between Karakas and Terminus I'm not sure how much I like going for Emrakul. You can play Doomsday with or without white, but I think the Silences give you a nice edge in the Miracles matchup as it negates their float a force on top strategy without having to board into Xantid Swarms.

  4. #5624
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Asthereal View Post
    You could try a Doomsday list. Doomsday has way more options to fight Miracles than any other Storm variant.
    Doomsday is best without storm spells at all
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

    Architect by day, rapstar by night. He's pretty much the German Hannah Montana. Sometimes he even comes in like a wrecking ball.

  5. #5625
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Lemnear View Post
    Doomsday is best without storm spells at all
    That's the beauty of Doomsday. You don't ever need to play a Storm spell in your main deck. Just build a Wish pile and get Tendrils from the board.
    The main deck will contain the other wincons you care to play, like Lab Man and/or Entreat the Angels.

  6. #5626
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Asthereal View Post
    That's the beauty of Doomsday. You don't ever need to play a Storm spell in your main deck. Just build a Wish pile and get Tendrils from the board.
    The main deck will contain the other wincons you care to play, like Lab Man and/or Entreat the Angels.
    Doomsday has it's own merrits of needing enough mana/cards to cast Doomsday, draw into the pile and being able to proceed, as pass-the-turn-piles are usually suicide in the current metagame.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

    Architect by day, rapstar by night. He's pretty much the German Hannah Montana. Sometimes he even comes in like a wrecking ball.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Lemnear View Post
    Doomsday has it's own merrits of needing enough mana/cards to cast Doomsday, draw into the pile and being able to proceed, as pass-the-turn-piles are usually suicide in the current metagame.
    True for most of the meta, but we were talking about Doomsday as an option against a Miracles-infested meta, and pass the turn piles are actually very valid in that matchup.

  8. #5628
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Asthereal View Post
    True for most of the meta, but we were talking about Doomsday as an option against a Miracles-infested meta, and pass the turn piles are actually very valid in that matchup.
    Telegraphing your opponent with a pass-the-turn DD to keep bis mana open and Clique-blowout available isn't valid, neither can you get past existing problems of 1cc-spells-fueled-combos vs. miracles
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

    Architect by day, rapstar by night. He's pretty much the German Hannah Montana. Sometimes he even comes in like a wrecking ball.

  9. #5629
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Lemnear View Post
    Telegraphing your opponent with a pass-the-turn DD to keep bis mana open and Clique-blowout available isn't valid, neither can you get past existing problems of 1cc-spells-fueled-combos vs. miracles
    Of course it all depends on what he is holding.
    Combo cannot beat a Miracles God hand, not even Doomsday.

    Anyway, we should go back on topic, before this becomes the Doomsday thread.

  10. #5630
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Regarding beating miracles:
    you all say its true - beating a God hand from miracles is almost imposible., definately its not a match I like to see - I enjoy the match up the most!, also the pilots who play it are very good players in my meta...

    A thing I could do related to the DD. is: having 2 DD in side plus Emrakul and Sheldock Island (4 extra slots - you can take out maybe decays and other stuff)so on 2nd and 3rd game you just can side 1DD+S.I+Emralkul so you have the option to wish and I.T. for DD which is 2 mana less than A.N.

    Also assuming Karakas is not drawn by Miracles. and that opponent will not be able to terminus on our turn. - the first scenarios is less likely to occur.

    I just didnt tryied this, but you're rithg when you say that DD is just better as its a 3 mana cost alsobut needs a specific pile vs c.b. and Emrakul is the most effective.
    I'm not sure if this can work but is 2 less mana tan other engine and once you played the DD, opp. has 2 more turns vs S.I or die!

    If someone could just test this could be great!
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  11. #5631
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Pelikanudo View Post
    Regarding beating miracles:
    you all say its true - beating a God hand from miracles is almost imposible., definately its not a match I like to see - I enjoy the match up the most!, also the pilots who play it are very good players in my meta...

    A thing I could do related to the DD. is: having 2 DD in side plus Emrakul and Sheldock Island (4 extra slots - you can take out maybe decays and other stuff)so on 2nd and 3rd game you just can side 1DD+S.I+Emralkul so you have the option to wish and I.T. for DD which is 2 mana less than A.N.

    Also assuming Karakas is not drawn by Miracles. and that opponent will not be able to terminus on our turn. - the first scenarios is less likely to occur.

    I just didnt tryied this, but you're rithg when you say that DD is just better as its a 3 mana cost alsobut needs a specific pile vs c.b. and Emrakul is the most effective.
    I'm not sure if this can work but is 2 less mana tan other engine and once you played the DD, opp. has 2 more turns vs S.I or die!

    If someone could just test this could be great!

    This was done about 3-4 years ago in ANT frequently. it worked. kind of. also before terminus and before common karakas play.

    people see this line now.

    Talk about DD in the DD thread please.

    Not here

  12. #5632

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

    SCG IQ + Weekly Event Reports

    In the past 5 local tournaments I have compiled a match record of 16-2-2 (IDs in final rounds) with the deck, so I was feeling confident in trying it at a larger event. I played ANT and Doomsday extensively for the past year, both online and in paper. Switching to TES has resulted in the best results out of all the storm decks I've played. I'm including reports from both an SCG IQ and the last weekly event due to the differences in the matchups.

    SCG IQ

    Round 1 - Dredge

    Game 1: I lose the die roll and draw my opening 7, which contains Dark Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Lion's Eye Diamond, a Fetchland, and Cantrips; good enough for a turn 1 Empty the Warrens. My opponent starts by playing a Cephalid Coliseum (suddenly Empty the Warrens doesn't seem like a great plan anymore), casts a Lion's Eye Diamond, taps the Coliseum to cast Breakthrough for 0, putting 9 cards in the graveyard. Fortunately for me there isn't a single dredge creature. My opponent then breaks the Lion's Eye Diamond for red to cast a Faithless Looting and passes the turn. I draw a Lotus Petal for my turn, and decide, with the Cabal Therapies in the yard, that casting an Ad Nauseam with no mana floating is safer than casting Empty the Warrens for 12 goblins. I go to 1 life and fail to find a Burning Wish or Infernal Tutor and have to settle for an Empty the Warrens for 34 goblins. My opponent draws and scoops. I comment on my opponent's bad luck of seeing 13 cards with no dredge creatures. I side out Cabal Therapy (especially bad on the draw), and side in Chain of Vapor mainly to fight Iona.

    Win - T1 Ad Nauseam into 34 goblins (1-0)
    -3 Cabal Therapy
    -1 Empty the Warrens
    +2 Surgical Extraction
    +2 Chain of Vapor

    Game 2: I draw my 7 and immediately mulligan to 6 with my opponent, who further mulligans to 5. My 6 card hand is slow - a Duress, Ponder, tutor, ritual, and lands. He starts with an Unmask, exiling a Cabal Therapy, to discard my tutor, plays a Mana Confluence and casts a Faithless Looting, again discarding no dredge creatures. I start my turn by fetching an Underground Sea and decide to cast Duress over Ponder, seeing a singleton Gemstone Mine. My opponent draws for the turn and casts Breakthrough for 0, discarding a Stinkweed Imp. I play a land, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, draw a Gitaxian Probe, floating mana and an Ad Nauseam on top of my library. My opponent dredges the Stinkweed Imp into Cabal Therapy and a Golgari Thug. I draw for the turn, cast Gitaxian Probe to cast Ad Nauseam, with an unused Lotus Petal, producing a Tendrils of Agony for the win.

    Win - T3 Ad Nauseam into Tendrils of Agony (2-0)

    1-0 (2-0)


    Round 2 - Jund Loam

    Game 1: I lose the die roll and draw my opening 7. My opponent mulligans down to 6 cards and starts with a Fetchland. I play Gitaxian Probe, see a hand of 5 lands including a Grove of the Burnwillows and 2 Mutavaults, and follow with a Ponder. The next turn I'm able to tutor for and cast Ad Nauseam, revealing sufficient mana and Burning Wish. He asks to see the Tendrils of Agony in my sideboard and scoops.

    Win - Turn 2 Ad Nauseam into Tendrils of Agony (1-0)
    -1 Cabal Therapy
    -1 Duress
    +2 Chain of Vapor

    Game 2: I play Gitaxian Probe and see a hand of Pack Rat, Verdant Catacombs, Life from the Loam, and Abrupt Decay, and cast Empty the Warrens on turn 1 for 14 goblins. My opponent fails to find an answer in two draw steps. I notice my opponent has a Traditional-Chinese Burning Wish and comment on how I've been looking for one more to finish my set. He says he'll be willing to trade it to me after the tournament, what an awesome guy!

    Win - Turn 1 Empty the Warrens for 14 goblins (2-0)

    2-0 (4-0)


    Round 3 - Maverick

    Game 1: I lose the die roll and draw my opening 7, a very slow opening hand with discard and cantrips. My opponent opens with a Windswept Heath. I play Gitaxian Probe and see Knight of the Reliquary, Umezawa's Jitte, Scavenging Ooze, Windswept Heath, Verdant Catacombs, and Scrubland. I decide against casting Cabal Therapy on his Scavenging Ooze, and instead play a Ponder, leading to a shuffle. My opponent plays Scavenging Ooze and passes. I cast Cabal Therapy naming Knight of the Reliquary, cast Ponder, and again shuffle. He attacks with the Scavenging Ooze, Wastelands a land, and decides to keep mana open in case of Past in Flames. I take another hit from the Scavenging Ooze, after exiling the Knight and drop to 9. I activate a fetchland on my turn and chain Infernal Tutors for 20 damage with Tendrils of Agony. I consider myself incredibly lucky to not have seen a Thalia in 4 turns and prepare my sideboard to fight both Thalia and Gaddock Teeg.

    Win - Turn 4 Tendrils of Agony (1-0)
    -3 Duress
    -1 Ponder
    +2 Chain of Vapor
    +1 Thoughtseize
    +1 Karakas

    Game 2: I expect to face a heavy assortment of annoying 2-mana creatures and throw away an opening 7 of 3 lands, 4 cantrips. I keep a not so stellar 6 card hand. He plays a forest and passes. I play a land and Ponder, hitting nothing and shuffle. He plays a land and an Ethersworn Canonist. I play a land, Ponder, and shuffle. He plays a Thalia, in response, I cast a Brainstorm. I ponder again and play a chrome mox, which pays for another chrome mox. He casts a Gaddock Teeg and wastelands my Underground Sea. I lose in a couple of turns, hoping to draw Karakas and Chain of Vapor with a hand full of rituals.

    Loss (1-1)

    Game 3: On the play for the first time this tournament! I throw back a slow opening 7 and open the following:
    Fetchland
    Chrome Mox
    Lotus Petal
    Rite of Flame
    Empty the Warrens
    Brainstorm

    I make the decision to go all in on 8 goblins turn 1: I play Chrome Mox, exiling a Brainstorm, Lotus Petal, Land, Rite of Flame, Empty the Warrens. He plays a land into turn 1 Deathrite Shaman. I draw a Lion's Eye Diamond and swing for 7. He untaps and plays a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I draw a Dark Ritual, attack for 5, and tap my land to play Lion's Eye Diamond. He plays a Qasali Pridemage, and wastelands my Underground Sea. I draw an Infernal Tutor and Attack for 2, my goal being to cast a Grapeshot for the last 5 damage, which will require at least 3 initial mana sources or a Karakas to bounce the Thalia. Unfortunately he uses the Pridemage to destroy my Lion's Eye Diamond and quickly ends the game. He tells me later he topdecked the Deathrite Shaman (which prevented 6 total damage) and I debate on whether or not it would have been better to Brainstorm for a larger Empty the Warrens on turn 2.

    Loss (1-2)

    2-1 (5-2)


    Round 4 - BUG Delver

    Game 1: I lose the die roll and start with a relatively slow 7. He plays turn 1 Underground Sea and passes. I play a ponder and float business on the top of my library. My opponent plays a Tropical Island, Ponder, and shuffles. I brainstorm, putting back a Ponder and an Infernal Tutor. My opponent casts a Hymn to Tourach, discarding a Burning Wish and a Brainstorm. I play a Ponder for the turn. My opponent wastelands my Underground Sea. I play a Duress and see Abrupt Decay, Wasteland, Daze, and discard the Daze. I tutor for Ad Nauseam into a Tendrils of Agony. I'm lucky that my opponent didn't find a fast creature to pressure my life total.

    Win - Turn 3 Ad Nauseam (1-0)
    -1 Cabal Therapy
    +1 Pyroblast

    Game 2: My opponent starts with a mulligan to 6, plays an Underground Sea and passes the turn. I cast a Gitaxian Probe, seeing Force of Will, Swan Song, Surgical Extraction, Wasteland, and Hymn to Tourach. Since my hand has both redundant mana and tutors, I cast Cabal Therapy and take the Force of Will, reasoning that if he casts Swan Song later I'll be able to flash back Cabal Therapy. He plays a Hymn to Tourach, taking my Infernal Tutor and a ritual. He then casts Surgical Extraction on my Infernal Tutor. We both cantrip for a few turns, with a couple of my lands hit by Wasteland and my hand by a Thoughtseize. I start my turn by casting Duress, taking Swan Song, eventually casting Empty the Warrens for 12 goblins. He cantrips, looking for a sweeper for two turns and extends the hand.

    Win - Turn 6 Empty the Warrens for 12 goblins (2-0)

    3-1 (7-2)


    Round 5 - Jund

    Game 1: I win the die roll (first time!) and start with a pretty strong hand. My opponent mulligans to 5 looking for lands. I cast Duress, and see a hand of Lightning Bolt, Punishing Fire, Abrupt Decay, and creatures. I take the Lightning Bolt and tutor for Ad Nauseam, leading to a Tendrils of Agony.

    Win - Turn 3 Ad Nauseam into Tendrils of Agony (1-0)
    -1 Empty the Warrens
    +1 Empty the Warrens

    Game 2: He starts with a Deathrite Shaman. I play a Ponder and shuffle. My hand is now completely full of mana and no action. He casts a Hymn to Tourach and the next turn he lands a Dark Confidant. My hand at this point is 2x Rite of Flame, 2x Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual. He casts a Liliana and a Thoughtseize. I never draw business and lose.

    Loss (1-1)

    Game 3: I mulligan away a slow hand. I keep a Belcher hand and summon 10 goblins on turn 1. He comments on his outs and plays a Grove of the Burnwillows and passes. I draw a land and attack for 10. He plays a Tarmogoyf and passes. I attack for 9 and pass. He draws his card for the turn and extends the hand.

    Win - Turn 1 Empty the Warrens for 10 goblins (2-1)

    4-1 (9-3)


    Round 6 - ID

    We find out that all the 4-1's except 1 can ID into the top 8. My opponent and I have good enough tiebreaks that we can ID.

    ID

    4-1-1 (9-3-3)


    Top 8 Quarterfinals - 4C Deathblade

    Game 1: Since I have a lower seed, I'm on the draw. My opponent starts with a land into Deathrite Shaman. I play Gitaxian Probe and see Sensei's Divining Top, Wasteland, 2x Deathrite Shaman, and Brainstorm. Especially after losing to Deathrite Shaman, I immediately plan to set up for Ad Nauseam rather than a fast Empty the Warrens since even a single Deathrite prevents quite a lot of damage. The next turn my Brainstorm is hit by a Spell Pierce and double Wastelands keep me a single mana off from tutoring for and casting Ad Nauseam. Stoneforge Mystic summons a Batterskull to the board and two swings later I start sideboarding. Looking back I think a better plan would be to use Cabal Therapy to get rid of 2x Deathrite Shaman and then cast a medium sized Empty the Warrens, especially with the Cabal Therapies available to take care of any tutored Batterskulls. I side in Pyroblasts in case of Meddling Mage, which I found out was the correct call.

    -1 Cabal Therapy
    -1 Ponder
    +2 Pyroblast

    Game 2: I open a hand with Gitaxian Probe, 2x Cabal Therapy, Burning Wish, Rite of Flame, Pyroblast, and Land. I start with a Gitaxian Probe and see Force of Will, Brainstorm, Deathrite Shaman, Jace, Karakas, and Land. The next turn I play a Land, cast Cabal Therapy and Pyroblast the expected Brainstorm in reponse. I name Force of Will with Cabal Therapy and pass. My plan now is to cast Burning Wish for Infernal Tutor and combo the following turn. I play a Chrome Mox and punt the game by exiling a Cabal Therapy instead of a Rite of Flame and cannot cast the Burning Wish in my hand. I lose shortly afterwards.

    4-2-1 (9-5-3)


    Props
    -Great opponents!
    -Great company driving to the event
    -Dodging the 4 Miracles players at the top tables
    -Completing my playset of Traditional-Chinese Burning Wish

    Slops
    -Turning a Chrome Mox into a Mox Jet to cast Burning Wish...
    -Deathrite Shaman destroying goblins by being a 1/2.
    -My lands mercilessly being destroyed by Wasteland
    -Losing the die roll 4/5 times

    Stats
    -Cast Ad Nauseam 6 times
    -Cast Empty the Warrens 4 times (1 loss and 1 off of an Ad Nauseam)
    -Natural storm 1 time




    Weekly Event

    My notes and memory of the matches aren't as complete as from the previous event.

    Round 1 - Death and Taxes

    Game 1:
    I'm on the play and pay 2 life to cast Gitaxian Probe and see 2 Karakas, a Plains, Stoneforge Mystic, Phyrexian Revoker, Mother of Runes, and Swords to Plowshares. My opponent plays a Plains and summons a Mother of Runes. I tutor for Ad Nauseam into Tendrils of Agony.

    Win - T2 Ad Nauseam (1-0)
    -3 Duress
    -1 Ponder
    +2 Chain of Vapor
    +1 Thoughtseize
    +1 Karakas

    Game 2: My opponent opens with Wasteland into Aether Vial. I pay 2 life to play Gitaxian Probe and see the following monstrosity:
    Spirit of the Labyrinth
    Stoneforge Mystic
    Phyrexian Revoker
    Rishadan Port
    Ethersworn Canonist
    I cast Cabal Therapy and name Ethersworn Canonist and set up for a Empty the Warrens next turn. Fortunately my opponent doesn't draw a white mana source and can only cast a Phyrexian Revoker naming Lion's Eye Diamond after putting a counter on Aether Vial. I tutor an Empty the Warrens for 12 goblins and flash back Cabal Therapy to discard the Stoneforge Mystic. I am able to attack with goblins for the win.

    Win - T2 Empty the Warrens for 12 goblins (2-0)

    1-0 (2-0)


    Round 2 - Miracles

    Game 1: I win the die roll and Ponder to set up. The next turn I play Gitaxian Probe and see Counterbalance, Force of Will, Vendilion Clique, Jace, and Arid Mesa. I luckily have Empty the Warrens in hand and resolve it for 10 goblins. My opponent cannot find a Terminus and I win.

    Win - T2 Empty the Warrens for 10 goblins (1-0)
    -1 Empty the Warrens
    -1 Cabal Therapy
    -1 Ponder
    +2 Pyroblast
    +1 Past in Flames

    Game 2: My Ponder is countered by Red Elemental Blast. My Burning Wish is countered. My Brainstorm is hit by a Snapcaster flashing back Red Elemental Blast. Vendilion Clique and Snapcaster Mage attack for the win.

    Loss (1-1)

    Game 3: My opponent leads with a fast Counterbalance. Later in the game I cast a discard spell to trigger Counterbalance and find the top card is a land. I cast rituals and cast Ad Nauseam with no mana floating, finding a Past in Flames; I discard roughly 15 cards. The next turn I cast a monstrous Past in Flames to eventually find Tendrils of Agony.

    Win - T4 Ad Nauseam into Past in Flames (2-1)

    2-0 (4-1)


    Round 3 - Esper Deathblade

    Game 1: I cast a fast Empty the Warrens for 10 goblins against a Deathrite Shaman.

    Win - Empty the Warrens (2-0)
    -1 Cabal Therapy
    -1 Ponder
    +2 Pyroblast

    Game 2: I cast a fast Empty the Warrens after being hit by a Thoughtseize and Surgical Extraction. I discard my opponent's Zealous Persecution.

    Win - Empty the Warrens (2-0)

    3-0 (6-1)


    Round 4 - Miracles

    Game 1: My opponent resolves a Vendilion Clique and a Snapcaster Mage. I cast Burning Wish for Massacre, and on my next turn, cast Massacre into a small Empty the Warrens for 6 goblins. They are able to attack twice before my opponent finds a Detention Sphere. A Counterbalance + Sensei's Divning Top, Jace the Mind Sculptor, and Vendilion Clique end the game in my opponent's favor.

    Loss (0-1)
    -1 Empty the Warrens
    -1 Cabal Therapy
    -1 Ponder
    +2 Pyroblast
    +1 Past in Flames

    Game 2: I cast a Gitaxian Probe and see Entreat the Angels, Terminus, Force of Will, Misdirection, Jace, and Counterbalance. I cast discard and cantrip for a couple of turns and my opponent is able to Stone Rain two of my lands with a Back to Basics. However, a very strong Ponder the turn before allows me to tutor for and cast an Ad Nauseam into Tendrils of Agony.

    Win - T4 Ad Nauseam (1-1)

    Game 3: My opponent lands a quick Counterbalance and I play out my artifact mana when given a chance while discarding his Brainstorm. We both continue to draw lands and I am able to tutor for an Ad Nauseam with tons of mana floating and find a Past in Flames. My opponent has a land on top of his library and I cast a Rite of Flame; in response he activates a fetchland to reveal a Counterbalance on top. I cast the mana in my hand and cast Past in Flames to flashback a pyroblast on the Counterbalance in order to resolve my tutors and win with Tendrils of Agony.

    Win - T6+ Ad Nauseam into Past in Flames (2-1)

    4-0 (8-2)

    Stats
    -Cast Ad Nauseam 4 times
    -Cast Empty the Warrens 5 times (1 loss)
    -Cast Past in Flames 2 times (both maindeck)



    Mainboard

    4x Gitaxian Probe
    4x Ponder
    4x Brainstorm

    3x Duress
    4x Cabal Therapy

    3x Burning Wish
    3x Infernal Tutor
    1x Empty the Warrens
    1x Ad Nauseam

    4x Rite of Flame
    4x Dark Ritual
    2x Cabal Ritual

    4x Lotus Petal
    4x Lion's Eye Diamond
    2x Chrome Mox

    4x Polluted Delta
    4x Bloodstained Mire
    2x Underground Sea
    2x Volcanic Island
    1x Badlands

    Sideboard

    2x Pyroblast
    2x Chain of Vapor
    2x Surgical Extraction
    1x Karakas

    1x Void Snare
    1x Thoughtseize
    1x Grapeshot
    1x Massacre

    1x Infernal Tutor
    1x Past in Flames
    1x Empty the Warrens
    1x Tendrils of Agony

    I've been playing the mainboard in the last 6 tournaments, to a combined match record of (20-4-3), with all the draws being ID in the final rounds. My losses have been to Miracles, Esper Deathblade, and 2x Maverick. I really like having 8 fetchlands to make the brainstorms stronger as well as being more resilient against Wasteland. The sideboard has stayed relatively constant, switching around the 2 Surgical Extractions for Pyroblast, Chain of Vapor, or Pithing Needles. I am happy with having 2 Surgical Extractions to have a fighting chance against fast combo and graveyard strategies. Some notes about the build:

    Ad Nauseam
    The biggest difference I noticed when switching from ANT to TES is the increased strength and consistency of Ad Nauseam. Even with only 2 Chrome Mox in the deck I have yet to lose due to not finding an initial mana source. Having Burning Wish lowers the dependency of finding both an Infernal Tutor and a Lion's Eye Diamond.

    Cabal Ritual
    Having 2 Cabal Ritual in the maindeck helps to cast Ad Nauseam off of Burning Wish and also provides a very strong source of mana lategame.

    Badlands
    I replaced the third Chrome Mox with a thirteenth land. I have used a third Underground Sea but noticed that there were many times that I wanted to fetch a land to cast discard the current turn and then produce red mana for the combo turn. I have found that the number of times this has been applicable has been greater than the times Badlands is the sole land in my initial hand with cantrips, and would likely be better than a Chrome Mox anyways.

    Sideboard
    By constructing the manabase solely with fetchlands and dual lands, I decided that keeping the deck strictly three colors is better for consistency. This does leave the deck weaker against Blue combo decks and Miracles, which is partially addressed from including Pyroblast, Surgical Extraction, and Karakas.

    TLDR
    4-2-1 (9-3-3) at SCG IQ
    2-0 vs. Dredge
    2-0 vs. Jund Loam
    1-2 vs. Maverick
    2-0 vs. BUG Delver
    2-0 vs. Jund
    0-2 vs. Esper Deathblade

    4-0 (8-2) at Weekly Event
    2-0 vs. Death and Taxes
    2-1 vs. Miracles
    2-0 vs. Esper Deathblade
    2-1 vs. Miracles

    Thanks for reading and I'll be interested in any feedback!
    Last edited by DireNTropy; 08-07-2014 at 04:21 PM.

  13. #5633

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

    I'd love to see at least 1 Pithing Needle in the SB of that deck, Needle has been nothing but good to me in testing, no matter how many colors I run. Have you really been alright with no Gemstones and 3 Burning Wish only? I'm unsure myself on how many Gemstone to run in 3c, but I'm not sure I'd ever cut Wishes, love to see them most of the time.

    In your round 3 game 3 against Maverick, is there a reason you didn't just go land > Brainstorm? If you hit Dark Ritual or Rite or Petal+Petal or Probe+LED or Tutor+Dark Ritual+LED or Wish+Rite+Rite or Wish+Rite+LED or Wish+LED+LED, suddenly you have a far more viable 10/12/14/14/14/14/14/14 Goblins, respectively. While those might be narrow outs, I think 8 Goblins has such low odds of getting there that you have to just get greedy and try for the big hit of Brainstorm. (Odds of Brainstorm hitting Dark Ritual/Rite is 35.2%, not factoring the combo hits, if anyone is really curious I could crunch the numbers of all the outcomes, but I estimate it to be close to 40%, which feels way better than 8 Goblins). EDIT: Your top 3 were Dark Ritual, LED and Infernal Tutor, so you could've had 14 Goblins, hindsight's 20/20, but I would've used the Brainstorm to try and go turn 1.

    Off-topic: I wanted to touch base with everyone about the Shardless BUG matchup. Taking the stock list as reference, I'm inclined to board out Empty the Warrens and one of the 3 Chrome Moxen, due to sweepers, and the general slowness of the matchup. From there, I board in Tendrils of Agony, for the natural lines (very relevant, as Shardless has little defense from it, also solves splash Meddling Mage), but from there I'm unsure what is a good 2nd slot. I'm between Chain of Vapor to hedge against Null Rod/Meddling Mage, or Pithing Needle to curb Lilliana/DRS/Wasteland/Jace. I'm leaning towards Chain, because you can win quickly enough to stop planeswalkers/DRS/Wasteland from beating you a lot more often than you can beat a Meddling Mage or Null Rod and giving Shardless time to accrue advantage seems like one of the ways to lose, so the card facilitating the fastest wins seems best.

  14. #5634
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by DireNTropy View Post
    Round 3 - Maverick

    -snip-

    Game 3: On the play for the first time this tournament! I throw back a slow opening 7 and open the following:
    Fetchland
    Chrome Mox
    Lotus Petal
    Rite of Flame
    Empty the Warrens
    Brainstorm

    I make the decision to go all in on 8 goblins turn 1: I play Chrome Mox, exiling a Brainstorm, Lotus Petal, Land, Rite of Flame, Empty the Warrens. He plays a land into turn 1 Deathrite Shaman. I draw a Lion's Eye Diamond and swing for 7. He untaps and plays a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. I draw a Dark Ritual, attack for 5, and tap my land to play Lion's Eye Diamond. He plays a Qasali Pridemage, and wastelands my Underground Sea. I draw an Infernal Tutor and Attack for 2, my goal being to cast a Grapeshot for the last 5 damage, which will require at least 3 initial mana sources or a Karakas to bounce the Thalia. Unfortunately he uses the Pridemage to destroy my Lion's Eye Diamond and quickly ends the game. He tells me later he topdecked the Deathrite Shaman (which prevented 6 total damage) and I debate on whether or not it would have been better to Brainstorm for a larger Empty the Warrens on turn 2.

    Loss (1-2)
    Quote Originally Posted by wonderPreaux View Post
    In your round 3 game 3 against Maverick, is there a reason you didn't just go land > Brainstorm? If you hit Dark Ritual or Rite or Petal+Petal or Probe+LED or Tutor+Dark Ritual+LED or Wish+Rite+Rite or Wish+Rite+LED or Wish+LED+LED, suddenly you have a far more viable 10/12/14/14/14/14/14/14 Goblins, respectively. While those might be narrow outs, I think 8 Goblins has such low odds of getting there that you have to just get greedy and try for the big hit of Brainstorm. (Odds of Brainstorm hitting Dark Ritual/Rite is 35.2%, not factoring the combo hits, if anyone is really curious I could crunch the numbers of all the outcomes, but I estimate it to be close to 40%, which feels way better than 8 Goblins). EDIT: Your top 3 were Dark Ritual, LED and Infernal Tutor, so you could've had 14 Goblins, hindsight's 20/20
    All 3 routes are wrong here. Considering that you have 3 IMS here and a RoF in hand, any RoF, DR, Petal in the top 3 creates 12 goblins rather than 8 (not to talk about options like LED, Probe or stuff in the top 3 which present even more options). The fact that you don't want to brainstorm-lock yourself here, using the land to cast the blue instant (while having the Mox in your hand, which you might want to shuffle away if the cards drawn with BS are not good enough aka "un-mulligan"), leaves only one option: play Fetch, drop Petal, sac Petal for blue, Brainstorm.

    Quote Originally Posted by wonderPreaux View Post
    Off-topic: I wanted to touch base with everyone about the Shardless BUG matchup. Taking the stock list as reference, I'm inclined to board out Empty the Warrens and one of the 3 Chrome Moxen, due to sweepers, and the general slowness of the matchup. From there, I board in Tendrils of Agony, for the natural lines (very relevant, as Shardless has little defense from it, also solves splash Meddling Mage), but from there I'm unsure what is a good 2nd slot. I'm between Chain of Vapor to hedge against Null Rod/Meddling Mage, or Pithing Needle to curb Lilliana/DRS/Wasteland/Jace. I'm leaning towards Chain, because you can win quickly enough to stop planeswalkers/DRS/Wasteland from beating you a lot more often than you can beat a Meddling Mage or Null Rod and giving Shardless time to accrue advantage seems like one of the ways to lose, so the card facilitating the fastest wins seems best.
    I don't know why you are talking about Meddling Mage in BUG. I'm also not too afraid of the Deluges as they took the spot of Charms in most lists i saw lately which they often can't cast in time or in response to Therapy's Flashback, which should affect the previous suggested switch of EtW -> ToA you can still find in Bryant's SB guide. Other than that I can see that you might want to board out a Ponder and the 3rd Mox for something like Needles or Pyroblast (depending in your SB choices of course) to block DRS, Lilianas, Wastelands or to combat their blue drawengines
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

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  15. #5635
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasDowd View Post
    This was done about 3-4 years ago in ANT frequently. it worked. kind of. also before terminus and before common karakas play.

    people see this line now.

    Talk about DD in the DD thread please.

    Not here
    it is a proposal for TES deck, therefore it is correct in here its place.
    Thanks
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Pelikanudo View Post
    it is a proposal for TES deck, therefore it is correct in here its place.
    Thanks
    Is this the proposal for a certain number of Doomsdays, and the Shelldock-Combo in the SB?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

    Architect by day, rapstar by night. He's pretty much the German Hannah Montana. Sometimes he even comes in like a wrecking ball.

  17. #5637
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    Re: [Deck] T.E.S. - The EPIC Storm

    Quote Originally Posted by Pelikanudo View Post
    it is a proposal for TES deck, therefore it is correct in here its place.
    Thanks
    It wasn't. Someone mentioned he was considering moving to ANT because he lost to Miracles all the time, and he felt ANT had the better chance in that particular matchup. I responded by saying Doomsday would probably have an even better chance against Miracles. Afterweards a discussion started that I tried to stop, because it was of course off topic.

    We can, however, go into detail on the idea of adding a Doomsday to the sideboard of TES. It's a valid choice if we run 12 cantrips, but it also asks for an Ideas Unbound or Meditate somewhere in the 75, which would be somewhat costly considering the little space we have to fool around with.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Asthereal View Post
    It wasn't. Someone mentioned he was considering moving to ANT because he lost to Miracles all the time, and he felt ANT had the better chance in that particular matchup. I responded by saying Doomsday would probably have an even better chance against Miracles. Afterweards a discussion started that I tried to stop, because it was of course off topic.

    We can, however, go into detail on the idea of adding a Doomsday to the sideboard of TES. It's a valid choice if we run 12 cantrips, but it also asks for an Ideas Unbound or Meditate somewhere in the 75, which would be somewhat costly considering the little space we have to fool around with.
    I have tried that months ago (The SB Doomsday and switching out a single MB cantrip for Ideas Unbound, not the lets-lose-to-stifle-or-wasteland-or-karakas-Emrakul-plan) and it wasn't really adressing any existing problems.

    The matchup isn't good for storm, but I'm sure if both players have average draws, its possible to "bleed out" Miracles in some games and win the match. You don't have to start every game on the draw against T1 Top, T2 Counterbalance with FoW backup and lose to it due to not finding a Decay or getting mauled by a T3/4 Clique. Pushing yourself and the deck in this matchup too much is doomed to fail. If you still need additional help in addition to the 4 SB dedicated for that matchup, you can still choose to add the xantids in that matchup or rebuild the SB towards combating Miracles.

    I don't see a leap in the matchup just by switching to another storm-variant, rather than playing colorless-12-post (not to confuse with MUD) which I tend to do to annoy Miracles ;D
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    Quote Originally Posted by Echelon View Post
    Lemnear sounds harsh at times, but he means well. Or to destroy, but that's when he starts rapping.

    Architect by day, rapstar by night. He's pretty much the German Hannah Montana. Sometimes he even comes in like a wrecking ball.

  19. #5639

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

    4-1'd split t4 at redcaps corner. Lost to a miracles. G3 on play thoughtseize see only fluster and anti-empty cards. Take fluster. Next turn setup brainstorm/led/probe/nauseum. See a 2nd fluster. Lose.

    Beat jund, manaless w/counters, miracles, and elves. Played my list w a top over the sb blood moon. Top was good. Going forward, im thinking of cutting the swarms since miracle opponents consistently have removal for them. Looking to add 3rd decay and 2nd top.

    I will admit thatplaying the non-city list is optimal for the top plan.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Lemnear View Post
    Is this the proposal for a certain number of Doomsdays, and the Shelldock-Combo in the SB?
    this was what I proposed for a TES:

    Regarding beating miracles:
    you all say its true - beating a God hand from miracles is almost imposible., definately its not a match I like to see - I enjoy the match up the most!, also the pilots who play it are very good players in my meta...

    A thing I could do related to the DD. is: having 2 DD in side plus Emrakul and Sheldock Island (4 extra slots - you can take out maybe decays and other stuff)so on 2nd and 3rd game you just can side 1DD+S.I+Emralkul so you have the option to wish and I.T. for DD which is 2 mana less than A.N.

    Also assuming Karakas is not drawn by Miracles. and that opponent will not be able to terminus on our turn. - the first scenarios is less likely to occur.

    I just didnt tryied this, but you're rithg when you say that DD is just better as its a 3 mana cost alsobut needs a specific pile vs c.b. and Emrakul is the most effective.
    I'm not sure if this can work but is 2 less mana tan other engine and once you played the DD, opp. has 2 more turns vs S.I or die!

    If someone could just test this could be great!
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