Thanks for the information Alaska. I heard a lot of pros talking about running Leyline of the Void as a 3 of in the Sideboard because of all the Delve and other decks that rely so much on the graveyard as of late. Could you tell me more about your local meta game?Originally Posted by alaska
Looking around the room at people playing in the various events today, there's gonna be a lot of Reanimator in Legacy Champs tomorrow.
Saw an 8-player side event where three seats in a row had Reanimator.
sorry, typo, i meant tyrant instead of titan :)
tyrant is really good and it's better now with so many omniscience around
Wound up 5-4 and dropping in Legacy Champs today, playing almost the same 75 as Gilderbarin216 -- only difference is I ran an Inkwell Leviathan in place of the Grave Titan. Never wished I'd had the Titan instead, and in fact Inkwell did some work that Titan couldn't have.
Rough summary:
Round 1 vs. 4-color Delver: Both games involve quick Griselbrands, and both games end quickly as a result.
Round 2 vs. Omnitell: Game 1 I stick an early Griselbrand and he isn't able to go off through it. Game 2 goes a bit longer; I eventually manage a turn where I reanimate both Sire and Iona, and he scoops 'em up.
Round 3 vs. Elves: a turn-three Elesh Norn, followed by a turn-two Elesh Norn.
Round 4 vs. four-color Delver (when I left, the guy was 8-1, so at least my first loss was to someone good):
Game 1 I just get run over as my hand never really comes together. Game 2 I'm actually in it for a while, picking off his Deathrites and positioning to be able to reanimate something big, and... I blow it. I get a Griselbrand out, but I'm already low on life and have to attack with it just to get back up to a safe range. Mistake number 1 is I Careful Study and discard the Inkwell, which pumps his Goyf one point larger. Mistake number 2 is the final turn of the game: I'm at 10 life, facing a 5/6 Goyf, an active Deathrite and a flipped Delver with a tapped Griselbrand (from attacking to get out of Deathrite range). The only line that could save me here is to draw 7, find two Petals, play them and a land and Entomb/Exhume Elesh Norn. Turns out I only find one Petal, but I'd have been dead anyway because I stupidly played a fetchland first instead of trying to draw into a non-fetch, meaning I'd have to go to 2 and die to the Deathrite in order to get the mana.
Round 5 vs. Rich Shay on Grixis Pyromancer:
Game 1 I keep a pretty good seven-card hand, likely to be able to go off turn three... and get Probed into Therapy'd for two copies of Reanimate. I don't recover. Game 2, I Decay and then Extract Pyromancer, then stick Griselbrand. Game 3, he Extracts Griselbrand in response to the Exhume, then sticks a Pyromancer and kills me with it.
Round 6 vs. Death and Taxes:
Not what I was hoping to see, but my opponent doesn't seem to understand how to play this matchup. Game 1 he leads on Plains into Mom into turn-2 Port... and then spends the next few turns durdling with the Port and giving me time to set up an Inkwell which kills him. Game 2 his deck does what it does, and I die to a Germ token toting a Sword of Fire and Ice. Game 3, I experimentally bring in the Ętherling, reanimate it, he Revokers it, I kill the Revoker, and get some hits in. A few turns later Inkwell joins the party and he scoops.
Round 7 vs. Merfolk:
Game 1 I go for the somewhat-risky line of reanimating Elesh Norn to wipe his board. I get repaid by having his Phantasmal Image copy it, and I don't manage to recover in time. Game 2, I Thoughtseize the Vial in his opening hand, then reanimate Iona a few turns later and pick off his next Vial with Abrupt Decay. Iona has to hang back, though, because he's got two Mutavaults and a random Silvergill and getting her into play knocked me all the way down to 8 life. A few turns later I manage to Exhume Griselbrand and ride it to victory. Game 3 features me Reanimating Griselbrand on my first turn, and ends quickly.
Round 8 vs. Deathblade:
Game 1 is weird. He has a turn-one Deathrite on the play and I don't have a Force for it. But he goes multiple turns without being able to find a green source, giving me all the time in the world to go off... except I just keep drawing big dumb creatures and no cantrips or ways to get them in my yard. I eventually die when he gets his mana sorted out. Game 2 I Thoughtseize on turn one and see (from my notes) fetchland, Ponder, TNN, Snapcaster, Deathrite and two Surgicals. Despite getting my Reanimates and my Abrupt Decays Extracted, I somehow manage to hang in there for a bit, but when I finally have an Exhume set up, I'm dead on board because it'll bring back the Deathrite to do the last few points of damage.
Round 9 vs. Miracles:
Game 1 is weird again. He leads on turn-one Tundra and does nothing. Turn two he casts a Brainstorm without playing a land; I Daze it and he passes. I counter a Top the following turn, but I'm low on cards and have no cantrips to take advantage of his mana issues. A couple turns later he finds a second land and a Top, which finds him more lands and a Jace. Game 2 I get Iona on turn two and he scoops. Game 3 he Flusterstorms my turn-one Thoughtseize, then drops Counterbalance. I try an exploratory Entomb which gets countered by blind flip of a Top, and promptly get locked the next turn. Two turns later Mentor joins the party and I die quickly and drop.
There's another event tomorrow for dual lands, I'll try again and see how it goes.
Went a disappointing 4-7-0 at Legacy Champs, then tweaked some cards to go 0-2 drop in the Vintage Champs to get the playmat. Once I'm home for real I'll consult my notes and give a breakdown of the games. Most of the losses were just me playing the odds and getting screwed or them just having the nuts. Had a few misplays, some of them noncritical and one that in hindsight could have been the match.
It would be great if you can highlight not only your mistakes but the cards/match ups that gave you the most difficulties. Your deck list and sideboard would be great as well.
Switch to Reanimator again from OmniTell and made Top 6 yesterday with 37 players.
Decklist:
4 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacomb
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
2 Swamp
3 Lotus Petal
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Tidespout Tyrant
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
2 Show and Tell
4 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Peer Through Depths
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
2 Pithing Needle
SB:
1 Grave Titan
1 Dread of Night
1 Echoing Truth
1 Golgari Charm
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Sylvan Library
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Surgical Extractions
4 Thoughtseize
Round 1 vs MBC (2-0)
G1: Turn 2 Iona - Black.
G2: Turn 4 Iona - Black. I entomb for Griselbrand turn 2 to bait for Surgical. He had extirpate. I had Careful Study, Iona and Reanimate in hand already.
Round 2 vs Infect (2-1)
G1: Turn 2 Elesh Norn - my Teammate concede.
G2: I lost to counter war when I cast exhume - I had Elesh Norn and Griselbrand in my yard. Died to his Inkmoth with Berserk and Become immense.
G3: He had turn 1 Inkmoth then Grafdiggers Cage. Then draw go for several turn he was mana screwed and I was flooding. I eventually resolve Show and Tell, drop Iona - Green and he has Inkmoth, Pendelhaven, Blighted Agent (he drop from Show and Tell) in play with me having 2 poison. Won with 3 attacks from Iona. Before my third attack with Iona, I hard cast Elesh Norn, he Force it then i Daze. If he pay for Daze he has no mana to activate his Inkmoth to block my Iona if he lets the Elesh Norn resolves then I will surely win.
Round 3 vs MUD (2-0)
G1: Turn 2 Griselbrand - it went all the way.
G2: Show and Tell for Tidespout Tyrant - he only drop a City of Traitors. Controlled the game with Tidespout and win.
Round 4 vs 4c Delver (2-1)
G1: Turn 4 Griselbrand - my teammate concedes. I resolve a turn 1 entomb and top deck an Exhume after he discard my exhume with cabal therapy from the previous turn.
G2: Got controlled by him, lost to 2 Deathrite Shaman - activations. He has Delver and Young Pyro and his tokens. I had Grave Titan in play though but just got block by the tokens.
G3: Turn 2 Show and Tell - Inkwell Leviathan with 2 Daze back up. It went all the way.
After Round 4 - I was the only one with a 4-0 record so I have to play the next round.
Round 5: Paired down to 4c Landstill with 3-0-1 record. (1-2)
G1: Able to resolve an exhume for Griselbrand after several turns. He concedes after with 1 Snapcaster, 2 cards in hand and several lands in his side.
G2: He Slaughter Game my Exhume, he has lots of answer in his deck - i thoughtseize him once and saw: Supreme Verdict, Wing Shards and Humilty.
G3: A Timing Slaughtered Game for my Reanimates in hand. I had Iona in the yard already, 2 Reanimates in my hand with Pithing Needle for Karakas in my board. I wasn't able to cast reanimate at the same time after I entomb for Iona because I had only I black mana source in play. Lost to Elspeth and his Mishra's Factory.
Round 6 ID with Aggro Loam (Teammate).
QF vs Aggro Loam same Teammate in Round 6
G1: I was able to exhume Griselbrand early got bounce back by Karakas. The game took long with me down to 2 life after I reanimated a Tidespout Tyrant. Lost to his Punishing Fire after 2 attacks from Tidespout.
G2: I won via Grave Titan.
G3: He had a KoTR 6/6, Bob, Thalia, Chalice for 1, Wasteland in play. I had 2 Swamp, 1 Verdant with 3 Brainstorm, 1 Exhume, 1 Reanimate and 2 Entomb in my hand. I top deck an Abrupt Decay. Destroyed his Chalice his EOT then he Wasteland my Bayou. Can't cast anything on my turn to be able to recover - had he had no Thalia in play I could still Entomb and Reanimate Grave Titan to delay the game a bit.
Pernicious Deed wasn't useful at all - I had it in play vs Aggro Loam game 2 but I was already winning, I might replace it with Emperial Archangel instead. The maindeck remains the same - I did not miss Thoughtseize main, the 2 Ponders and 1 Animate Dead. I might also remove the 2 Surgical Extractions in the SB and might replace it with 1 more Golgari Charm and maybe 1 more Show and Tell.
So my day went:
Lose to Burn 0-2. Game 1 he zaps me a bunch while I find a Careful Study for the Griselbrand in my hand. Move to Reanimate and he bolts in response leaving me at 6 life afterwards. Can't draw 7, his turn he has two spells. Game 2 I keep a turn 2 kill, but he lands Grafdigger's Cage turn 1, and despite a healthy amount of digging, never see any Abrupt Decay or other removal, only lands and more creatures. My graveyard is stacked when I die. Feel bad.
Win to Grixis Pyromancer 2-1. Game 1 my hand doesn't pan out well while he makes tokens off countering the spells that would help me turn it around. Game 2 an Animated Griselbrand swings once and helps me find Elesh Norn to keep his board dead. Game 3 goes back and forth, but I power through his counters with an onslaught of reanimation effects until one sticks, he draws dead to Griselbrand and scoops.
Lose to Blood Moon/Chalice of the Void/Trinishpere 1-2. He wins the die roll and puts out Blood Moon. I play until I would have to discard, and having never seen my Swamp, I scoop. Game 2 I counter his locks long enough to get Animate Dead on Elesh Norn, killing him over 7 turns. Game 3 is a rough mulligan, and his open of Chalice on 1 really ruins me. He plays a Simian Spirit Guide and makes it hold a Sword of War and Peace, and sitting with many Brainstorms and Careful Studies in hand, I die.
Lose to Elves 0-2. Game 1 Deathrite Shaman with many untap effects makes it impossible to do much while I get drained to death. Game 2 I keep him stunted with Engineered Explosives and Pernicious Deed both making an appearance, but I can't find a discard outlet and he plays a Dryad Arbor into Natural Order for Craterhoof, and 11 becomes 5 becomes 0 without me being able to stop it.
Lose to Infect 0-2. Game 1 my Hapless Researchers do a good job stopping the damage on the ground but he counters aggressively and has Inkmoth Nexus online quickly and gets 10 over two swings. Game 2 is the one that really bothers me. My opening hand has Careful Study, Elesh Norn, Reanimate plus a Brainstorm for good measure. I bin Elesh Norm and get another Careful Study for my effort. Next turn my Reanimate eats a Spell Peirce, and I'm thinking, no problem, use the Brainstorm and the Carful Study to just find 1 of 9 cards and try again. I see about 14 new cards with nothing to show for it. The other line of play was to use the Brainstorm in response to the Spell Peirce and hope to find a Force, but also locking my top deck next turn. I feel the odds were in my favor and I just got a crap deal, burning any card equity I had to go all in on a single Reanimation doesn't seem the right play.
Win to a no show round 6. Eat a sandwich from the Market. Best round ever.
Lose to Death and Taxes 1-2. Game 1 I get to Izzet Charm a Thalia on the end step and stick Griselbrand the next turn. Game 2 Ports, Wasteland & taxes keep me from playing much. Game 3 settles into much the same as game 2. I suffer A bit of a misplay, moving to double fetch and get an Aven Mindcensor in response, and I end up resolving both my fetches using only the top 4 cards. Luckily I get both lands, in color as well to turn on Abrupt Decay, but it isn't enough, and I fall to a bunch of dorks.
Win to MUD 2-1. Game 1 I get a Griselbrand unopposed and he manages a Wurmcoil Engine, but block and sac with a Hapless Researcher keeps him of lifegain for the win. Game 2 he pumps out Grim Monolith and Voltaic Key and then manages Forgemaster when I'm short a blue pitch to take the game. Game 3 pits my Griselbrand against his Wurmcoil, but a followup Elesh Norn breaks the stalemate and I take the match.
Win to Omnitell 2-1. Game 1 he durdles on cantrips long enough to make it clear what he's trying, and I stick a Sire of Insanity to make it impossible for him. Game 2 I get stunted and he has all the time in the world to manage the extra turn off Emrakul. Game 3 I lose my Iona to Surgical Extraction, but follow up Griselbrand is good enough.
Lose to Elves 1-2. Game 1 I get Sire as my only creature off a Careful Study and we swing back and forth, but his top decks net blockers while mine do little, so he wins the race. Game 2 I win after landing Elesh Norn, leaving him only his Scavenging Ooze with a single counter on it. He pumps it massive and forces me to chump with Elesh Norn, but a followup of Pithing Needle and Tidespout Tyrant ends it. Game 3 I misplay for what could have been the match. He has Deathrite Shaman, untap effects in spades and Cradle to ensure nothing's getting though. I find a few Abrupt Decays but not enough matter much. What I do have is Exhume and double Entomb in hand. My opportunity presents itself when I'm at 6, he passes with only Bayou as a mana source, even with untap effects he can't get enough creatures to produce mana and eat at the same time. Plan in my head is to Entomb for Griselbrand, Exhume, wait for him to eat it and then grab Elesh Norn and set my house in order. He smartly lets the Griselbrand enter play, drains me end of turn and untaps and double drains me using Wirewood Symbiote. What I should have done was get Elesh Norn first, given him absolutely no choice but to eat it, then get Griselbrand. Barring a catastrophic top deck, he would only be able to muster two drains leaving me at 2 with an attacking Griselbrand next turn.
Lose to ANT 0-2. Both games he kills me with my win sitting in my hand ready to go next turn.
So final result is 4-7-0. Still like the build and will continue playing it; only real tilt moment was against Infect, having Elesh Norn primed to go and seeing that many cards without anything to show for it did get to me. A few of the other games were drawing Force the turn after Rest in Peace, but I can make peace with those situations.
Additionally, wanted the Tolarian Academy playmat, so made the following changes and went 0-2 drop in Vintage on Sunday. Watched a guy take infinite turns on turn 2 was kind of neat.
-3 Brainstorm
-3 Daze
-2 Izzet Charm
-2 Animate Dead
-1 Careful Study
-1 Hapless Researcher
+3 Mental Mistep
+2 Gush
+2 Oath of Druids
+2 Dack Fayden
+1 Ponder
+1 Misdirection
+1 Mystical Tutor
-1 Keranos, God of Storm
-1 Inkwell Leviathan
-1 Darkblast
+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Hellkite Tyrant
I wouldn't recommend it.
Looking at your matchups it looks like you got quite unlucky. Losing to burn, elves, ANT(though less here) and infect.
I recently played in a GPT and went 3-1-1, then died in the top 8 to my own mistakes. Just a friendly reminder guys, your opponent's graveyard can be reanimated from as well >.<
Okay, I'm a Grave Titan, a Reanimate (looking for a 4th foil), and a set of Show and Tells away from playing this deck. Is there a reasonable replacement for SnT until I buy my set? The other cards are an eBay browsing session away, but Shows will take just a little time, but I wanna play it sooner than two months from now. Any suggestions? How do people feel about the older Dark Ritual "glass cannon" version? Can it still be at least moderately competitive?
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
Yeah, I feel if I could play the day over again, variance would swing back to my side. Many many games were winnable with just a top deck Careful Study or Hapless Researcher or Izzet Charm or even Brainstorm or Entomb; draw a land or a fatty. Try again? Land or a fatty.
My burn opponent did have some business going, my force on his Price of Progress gets me in range of Bolt and Fireblast, both games he gets me exactly on damage. ANT was fast as well, both were turn 3, game 1 I had Dazes mucking up his floating mana but even that wasn't enough.
But double Elves and Infect both game me all the time in the world to put something together, which is frustrating.
Worst part of the weekend was all of my opening hands for Vintage were really really good. Like every single one was turn 2 reanimate with backup or protection, but that didn't matter for shit in the face of Mental Misstep lol. So not only did the deck just shit the bed Saturday, it showed me what godly hand it could produce when it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
I dusted off Reanimator after not playing for nearly 3 months for Legacy Champs, I probably would have done better if I stuck to what I knew best instead of trying to learn another deck. I'll type my notes on the matches if I can find them in my luggage.
Round 1: vs Shardless Bug
Game 1: I knew he was on Shardless since I saw him at the players meeting shuffling up. Here's the funny part about the first game, I was so anticipating a T1 thoughtseize I kept mulling, also due to the fact I was getting either all land hands or non landers. I ended up mulling to 2 with an Iona and a Swamp. Lo and Behold turn 1 he was forced to thoughtseize my Iona. The next turn I reanimated on black with no real response.
Game 2: Leyline of the Void pregame action. I was heavy on the show and tell plan and bring out Empyrial Archangel on it and beat face.
1-0
Round 2: vs Mono Brown MUD
I have no familiarity of this matchup
Game 1: I force the first trinisphere only to get hit with a chalice on 1. We go back and forth, I had to reanimate Iona as it was the only thing in the yard via careful study at this time. He eventually establishes the staff of domination mana loop.
Game 2: He barfed out his hand like some kind of affinity player. I saw Tormods, Chalice on 1, Chalice on 2, and a Trinisphere within 2 turns. Also Ugin hurts with the bolting. Sire of Insanity fails big time when reanimated on turn 3.
1-1
Round 3 Grixis Delver/Tempo
Game 1: I thoughtseize Young Peezy out of his hand, as his hand was just full of delvers and a tasigur. I get Tidespout out on turn 3 and I get a clock finally. I was down to 4 life and he was down to 5, I know his hand was full of creature spells since delver did not flip but he did manage to get another young peezy. Unfortunately for me the next turn he was able to flip both of his delvers and on his attack step I left mana open to bluff I could bounce his creatures, but alas it didn't work.
Game 2: Turn 1 Elesh Norn, Turn 2 Iona on Black sealed the deal. Though a lightning bolt nearly killed me if it weren't for misdirection.
Game 3: My opponent outplayed me on this one. Everytime I tried to reanimate or exhume he had a surgical extraction ready on my fatty. Tasigur was laying on the pain pretty hard here.
1-2
Round 4 Reanimator Mirror
I have no experience with the mirror at all. The details on this one was hazy
Game 1: It's seriously just draw, land go, when he shuffles his deck he accidentally drops an entomb so I immediately know what he's on. I had an entomb in my hand and no reanimate so I waited until I had both in hand before I made my move. Eventually it was Entomb, Reanimate Iona on Black onto next game.
Game 2: My Careful Study and Entomb got forced leaving me out of the game. He gets Griselbrand out killing me.
Game 3: Both of us reanimate Griselbrands on our respective 2nd turns. We eventually trade off, I figured he had a reanimate in his hand trying to take my Griselbrand. My Pay 14 netted me no permission, so I just died while he got an Iona on Blue.
1-3
Round 5 Burn
Game 1: Turn 2 Sire of Insanity only gets me killed. He was able to drop a monastery swiftspear and just kill me with one land in play.
Game 2: I didn't understand what Exquisite firecraft did on the spell mastery part so he kills me with spam of red spells.
This loss almost made me want to drop.
1-4
Round 6 U/W Affinity Fliers
Game 1: I Tidespout Tyrant him out of the game
Game 2: I Elesh Norn him out of the Game
2-4
Round 7 MUD
Game 1: A "non" Interactive game as he puts it. Turn 1 Sire of Insanity puts him out of the game.
Game 2: I show and tell Griselbrand and he puts down a blightsteel colossus. I panic knowing what's gonna happen so I draw 14 to find my single chain of vapor. I bounce it thinking "phew I dodged that bullet". My opponent looks like he still can recover as he barfs out his hand except for that darksteel I bounced so I'm thinking to myself "okay I gotta end this quick, oh! let me Show and Tell my Empyrial Archangel". He drops the same blightsteel colossus I was fearing a turn ago, I panic yet again. When he was able to swing at me I decided to block with the Archangel so all the damage would go to angel instead of me (I think though I could have just did no blocks and still survive). After the angel died I just reanimated it again. Griselbrand gets me there.
3-4
Round 8 Esper...something?
I have no idea what my opponent was on as Elesh Norn caused a scoop if when I forced STP.
4-4
Round 9 6Tezz/Helmerator
This guy was such a fun opponent
Game 1: I'm seeing Dmir Signets, Artifact Lands, and MAINDECK LEYLINE OF THE VOID. I was wondering what he was on that game, he was mentioning that even with my Elesh Norn on the board about to swing for lethal in a turn that he had a way out. His way out was a Tezzeret 1.0 which I forced which I went to game 2.
Game 2: 2x Leyline of the Void is active we both draw jack crap. I show and tell Griselbrand in and the clock is on, until he drops an ensnaring bridge from my show and tell. Two turns later I get my abrupt decay to blow the bridge up.My opponent topdecks transmute artifact on his last possible turn, so I know he's searching for that helm to kill me. I dig 14 with Griselbrand seeing NOTHING, I was about to concede then I realized I had a brainstorm in there, so I decided to go for it. And thanks to that I was able to Force it and the game ends.
After this game we talking with my friend and his son about the whackiness that is Tin Fins with the doomsday transformational sideboard. And my opponent suggested that giving Reanimator a Doomsday option in the sideboard would be pretty funny. Something I might explore for fun.
5-4
Round 10 BUG Delver
Game 1: Griselbrand on Turn 1 killed him fast
Game 2: My opponent was showing his buddy his opening hand and they were laughing. So I was like...crap I kept a bad hand. I kept a possible turn 1 reanimation hand if I could bin a fatty with one of my careful studies. His turn 1 play was Deathrite Shaman but he had no Green source of mana. Because of the deathrite in play I waited before I made my move. His 2nd turn was another deathrite and he decided to just swing at me with the first deathrite. With that I decided to go for the kill. I casted careful study and I was able to bin empyrial archangel and reanimate it on the next turn. He apparently had no response to that. Apparently he was packing murderous cuts thinking it was enough to kill whatever I binned.
6-4
Thoughts on Eternal Weekend:
Reanimator is something people are still afraid of.
The Legacy crowd is still amazing, I only had to deal with one salty dude the whole day.
Leyline of the Void, seriously? This isn't 2013 stop using that thing, it scares me.
Lots of homeless dudes in Philly, someone tried to rob me at the amtrak terminal even though my backpack was strapped on to me. Thank god a friend and me was able to double team him.
Acoustics were AWWWWWWWWFUL
I suck so bad at Vintage, my first round was against LSV only to get blown out horribly. First time playing Vintage and I go 2-7.
No one can read Phyrexian, I can't even I sometimes have to call a judge for oracle on Elesh haha.
Apparently having foil careful studies gave away the fact that Reanimator was one of my main decks if not my main deck to play.
Losing to burn really really makes me sad, I made Reanimator as a response to all the burn decks at my home meta.
MVPs: Show and Tell, Elesh Norn, and Empyrial Archangel. Everyone loves shroud and the inability to read Phyrexian. Also being able to scoff at Leyline of the Void is great.
LVPs: Sire of Insanity, Daze, and Grave Titan. Every time I decide to bring him out to the maindeck, he backfires on me. I'm re-evaluating if he's still worth it even in the sideboard. He originally was a storm silverbullet, but thinking back to the time the ANT player was able to Hellbent Infernal Tutor into Chain of Vapors my Griselbrand just annoys me. Daze never was there for me, never to be pitched to Force or to just tempo counter something. Grave Titan never saw any action due to lack of decks where I anticipated edict effects.
Looking at the reports coming in, Grave Titan seems a bit outdated at the moment. Is Archangel really that good? How is it in the D&T match up?
I'm a fan of Archangel as it's defensively strong. In aggromatchups doing 8 damage in one turn can be a chore. Others will say that Inkwell Leviathan may be the better choice due to its islandwalk, huge body, and trample. In Death and Taxes it's annoying for the opponent to deal with. I will concede though that I don't win the game with the Archangel alone. It usually helps me stall until I get another fatty out.
Grave Titan is first and foremost for the Edict matchups, decks that rely on Liliana of the Veil to cover themselves. Everything else is just secondary. Everything else he does can be done better or safer with other creatures. For the most part, he will never be a creature you Entomb for, but does quality work when you see him in the opening hand or off a Careful Study. Essentially, he's a more well rounded Sigarda.
Empyrial Archangel is just a more defensive Inkwell Leviathan. Not to say it's worse at all, but for me they're both candidates for an unlegendary untargetable beater to seek in removal heavy environments. In a removal heavy combat heavy environment, Archangel lets you attack with more safely. The trade off there is a slower clock, especially if they have blockers.
D&T can be taxingbut winnable, Inkwell Leviathan early will kill them before they can poop out enough creatures to matter, and will walk all over any flyers they put down to delay you. Your odds fall sharply the longer the game goes, they'll have every effect available to ruin you. Thalia for your spells, Aven Mindcensor for your Entombs, Rest in Peace for your graveyard, Containment Priest for your Show and Tells and Swords to Plowshares and Council's Judgement for anything that does make it into play. It's definitely not an opponent I wish to sit across from, but I think it's a better match up then some of the BUG flavors. Those always seem unwinnable to me, I've grown to absolutely despise them.
Seattle meta can be a little tricky to pin down on any given day, because plenty of people have large collections and can switch among different decks.
That said, in my local shop (Card Kingdom), it is very rare to play against weird janky crap.
Expect an SCG-like meta: Bug and Grixis Delver, Miracles, Omni, DnT/Maverick. Storm, some reanimator. Elves and Merfolk make appearances too, there are a couple dredge players running around (I'm sometimes one of them). Also occasional stompy decks, but not many of those.
That may be so broad as to be unhelpful, but I haven't found the meta to be so slanted as to be predictable.
Any suggestions on any specific cards I should be packing (Main deck and/or sideboard) for Seattle GP? Maybe I should come up a week early and see for myself. How is the Legacy scene during the week? Any guys just in the store playing or only tournament play?
D&T is rough.
Like I said in my post further up, I think the guy I beat in Legacy Champs just didn't really know how the matchup worked; game 1 he spent way too much time trying to run the mana-denial plan and applying virtually no pressure, and that's how I was able to get him, and Inkwell is very strong against them -- Council's Judgment is the only thing they have to kill it, and it's not like they run a lot of copies of that. Also, Ętherling is pretty good to have so long as you can keep it from getting hit by Revoker.
Grave Titan, meanwhile, just feels like it's better suited to a metagame with more Lilianas in it. I didn't see a single one out of an opponent in 9 rounds on Saturday.
I only show up for "tournament" (well, weekly tournament) play, which is generally 30-40 people. I don't really have time or energy to show up on random off-days unfortunately.
As for specific cards, Decay and Needle obviously do a lot of work. Coffin Purge if you want to be cute. Extra discard I.e. duress, is something I've been testing based on suggestions here. Some degree of bounce spells - I run a Singleton echoing truth in the board, but maybe that's too skimpy.
Ive been questioning grave titan as of late as well. The problem with shaving him from the deck is that he is such a good clock. For sure there are games where i entomb for him. Against a karakas he is the best threat in our deck, and he does put 10 power into play on the turn he enters, thats significantly more than any of out other dudes. I think that generally, unless your opponent has 2-3 answers, he is the best creature against death and taxes in our arsenal, and is much tougher to race than archangel. The deck plays vial, so in the D&T games, your opponent can easily put 8 power into play by turn 5-6, which is when archangel is due to be hitting for the 4th time. Id like to hear input on the slot for sure, as i think it will greatly affect out lands, miracles and death and taxes matchups inadvertently. Playing in the invi this weekend, i will most likely be sleeving up gravy titan.
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