[Primer] R/G Lands

[Admiral_Arzar]

Nice result :)

Nothing related: I was reading the primer on page 1 again, as I'm building a black version. When thinking of Abrupt Decay Vs Krosan Grip, I was mainly in favor of the Decay, but then I realized that it couldn't handle Blood Moon (except on the turn it is played) due to the absence of a Swamp in the deck. Maybe this should appear somewhere in the Abrupt Decay section in the primer.

What do you guys think of the choice of one over the other? I'm pretty much convinced that Decay is better in most situations as long as you stay aware of Blood Moon (other drawbacks I see are an opponent's Venser that can save Decay's target, or the impossibility to destroy Omniscience).

Thanks. I would stick with Grip - it destroys Omniscience and Leyline of the Void, which Decay does not. I suppose you could run a split of the two, but I definitely wouldn't cut Grip.

[barcode]

Krosan Grip is miles better than Abrupt Decay. Split second is extremely relevant.

[Dice_Box]

As is the not being black.

[Layalouhamesh]

Thanks for your answers. I will try both in my local meta to find if a split is worth playing (lots of Miracles and aggro decks)

[Dice_Box]

Against Miracles I hold Boseiju with an unnatural love.

When playing the Black Splash against Miracles, I like Bob and Boseiju. It's likely they have removal, but if they use it on Bob that's a bonus. If they don't, that's a bigger plus.

[Layalouhamesh]

Against Miracles I hold Boseiju with an unnatural love.

When playing the Black Splash against Miracles, I like Bob and Boseiju. It's likely they have removal, but if they use it on Bob that's a bonus. If they don't, that's a bigger plus.

Isn't the life loss a bit too much? Zuran Orb in addition?

[Dice_Box]

The average CMC of a standard build is about 0.46 total. No, it's really not an issue. Plus, if they are hurting, just don't play the upkeep on Tabernacle.

Honestly, the biggest reason to run Black would be Bob. If you have the splash going, run him.

[barcode]

Against Miracles I hold Boseiju with an unnatural love.

When playing the Black Splash against Miracles, I like Bob and Boseiju. It's likely they have removal, but if they use it on Bob that's a bonus. If they don't, that's a bigger plus.

I resolved Bob against a Miracles last FNM (we were the last two 3-0 players) in game 2. He untapped and Terminused it. It blew my mind. On the one hand I knew I was going to win because he still had Terminus in his deck but on the other: he terminused my bob on turn 2! He SET UP Terminus with Ponder!

[Dice_Box]

I resolved Bob against a Miracles last FNM (we were the last two 3-0 players) in game 2. He untapped and Terminused it. It blew my mind. On the one hand I knew I was going to win because he still had Terminus in his deck but on the other: he terminused my bob on turn 2! He SET UP Terminus with Ponder!

[Crimhead]

Krosan Grip is miles better than Abrupt Decay. Split second is extremely relevant.

Grip is also better at blowing up SDT - and almost as good at blowing up Counter Balance.

Split second allows us to ounish opponents for sitting on Relic of Progenetus

Decay hits dudes, but we are pretty good already against non-shrouded creatures.

[gigapatrick]

Another grindfest against Miracles:

Building a Fortress #3

Enjoy.

[Dice_Box]

Decay hits dudes, but we are pretty good already against non-shrouded creatures.

Goyf, Knight and other horizontally growing creatures can be painful though. I guess if there was a large amount of them in your meta it could be worth a thought.

[CptHaddock]

Goyf, Knight and other horizontally growing creatures can be painful though. I guess if there was a large amount of them in your meta it could be worth a thought.

Would there be any consideration into just splashing blue for academy ruins, engineered explosives and any other artifacts that might be worth running because of the splash in that sort of meta? Or does that just make the deck weaker? Seems like EE would solve a lot of problems that we may have with hatebears and other problematic permanents.

[barcode]

Check out this epic grindfest against Miracles:

Building a Fortress #2

Finally had a chance to watch this one. I think I would have Gambled for a second Exploration in game 1. When we can get ahead on lands instead of just breaking even replaying Stage/Depths it's much better for us. We have opportunities to port lands and can start punishing fire them out as plan B. Also, I would have mazed Marit Lage after attacking so we can blank any attacks (instead of just mazing their guys). Other than that: well played. It would be good to see what the match looked like from the Miracles side.

edit: And for #3. Dear god play your Explorations. :( Using your mana every turn makes drawing loam so good. Choke is the nuts! Also, why do you port in draw step?

[Dice_Box]

Would there be any consideration into just splashing blue for academy ruins, engineered explosives and any other artifacts that might be worth running because of the splash in that sort of meta? Or does that just make the deck weaker? Seems like EE would solve a lot of problems that we may have with hatebears and other problematic permanents.

I have tried to do this a few times, my last experiment ended with me dumping the idea totally. I wrote about it some pages back.

[gigapatrick]

Barcode:

Thanks for the advice. I think you're definitely right about Gambling for another exploration in the first match against Miracles. I hadn't even considered that--but that's part of the point of the videos, to improve my play. As for playing out my Explorations in the first game of the second match against Miracles, again I didn't consider it because I had Manabond in play (which is about equivalent to two Explorations), but you're certainly right again.

As for tapping with Port during Draw Step: if I do it during upkeep, they get a free spin of their Top, essentially. Then they draw exactly what they want. If I do it on Draw, they've already drawn their card for turn and spinning then is less useful. Granted, it probably doesn't matter ninety-eight percent of the time, but the other two percent might matter.

[barcode]

As for tapping with Port during Draw Step: if I do it during upkeep, they get a free spin of their Top, essentially. Then they draw exactly what they want. If I do it on Draw, they've already drawn their card for turn and spinning then is less useful. Granted, it probably doesn't matter ninety-eight percent of the time, but the other two percent might matter.

They are likely to be spinning at the end of your turn. If you tap in their upkeep they have no top benefit with the mana (they can still brainstorm or Dig, but that's another issue). Doing it in their draw step you let them use the mana right away to set up their next draw (instead of forcing it end of turn or upkeep; a decision between casting a spell or using top) because the first thing done in the draw step is to draw a card. There's definitely cases to port in the draw step, like when you have multiple ports: use one in upkeep and they may float mana. If they float and pass priority let the mana empty and then use the other port in their draw step to pin down a land and cut off more sorcery speed effects.

Also, on the "production quality" front, when you speak to folks not on the recording please mute your mic. ;) We can all hear you speaking to your little one.

[Admiral_Arzar]

I took my list from the previous page to my local last night. Matchups were as follows:

Round 1 - Omnitell

I lose the die roll and my opponent goes Island -> Preordain. My Exploration gets Forced, and then my Stage activation targeting depths on turn 3 gets Stifled (!). He combos the next turn. I board like this:

-3 Maze
-3 Wasteland
-1 Gamble
-2 Manabond
-3 Punishing Fire
-1 Bojuka Bog
-1 Glacial Chasm

+4 Trinisphere
+4 Krosan Grip
+3 Choke
+2 Sphere of Resistance
+1 Karakas

Game two I keep a hand with awkward mana but also double Trinisphere. I draw Ports, then a Sphere or Resistance which gets Forced. I rip Thespian's Stage on turn 4 and pass with the combo ready. My opponent casts Show and Tell, I put in Trinisphere and make Marit Lage on his end step. Game 3 I keep a hand with no permanent hate (just a Grip), Exploration, and assorted lands. I eventually draw Choke but hold it in hand for Show and Tell. He casts Show and puts in Omniscience (I put in Choke), then plays Blood Moon (!) off of it. I Grip Omniscience in response. What follows is a very long durdlefest where I try and draw a Grip and he doesn't do anything (all but one of his Islands were tapped under Choke and his fetches were Mountains). I eventually draw 2 Grips and a Trinisphere for backup, Gripping Moon end step and making Marit Lage. He attempts to fetch two Islands, realizes he only has one left in his deck and concedes. 2-1

Round 2 - Death and Taxes

My opponent wins the roll and plays Plains - go. I play Manabond into Tabernacle and Port and other lands. He draws lands and eventually sticks an Avenger and a Revoker (on Mox) through my double Port. Luckily, I immediately rip a fetch (Mox was my only colored source) and then a Loam. Loam + Manabond gets out of hand really quickly and we go to game 2. I board -2 Manabond, -1 Bojuka Bog, -1 Gamble for +4 Grip and Karakas (I think). Game two he has Thalia and I have Exploration. I take some beats and misplay a Crop Rotation (I got some irrelevant land instead of Tabernacle against his Vial + only 2 lands draw). I eventually Loam into Chasm and then Tabernacle wiping out most of his army. I assemble the combo and he concedes. 2-0

Round 3 - Miracles

Game one I keep a hand with too many lands that don't produce mana, which should have been a mulligan. I eventually resolve Exploration but don't find Loam or Wasteland until it's too late. I had 2 Ports and the combo but he had 3 white sources and a million cards in hand (plus counter-top and Jace) so I wasn't getting there. I board -3 Maze, -1 Punishing Fire, -1 Chasm, -1 Crop Rotation, -1 Wasteland, -1 Bojuka Bog for +4 Krosan Grip, +3 Choke, +1 Boseiju. Game two my opponent fails to draw his 4th land, and his 3rd gets Wasted while I have double Port. He concedes and we go on to an epic game 3. My Exploration gets Forced and I'm left with double Crop Rotation and lands. I draw Port and then Choke. He plays Meddling Mage on Loam which turns off my Loam in hand. He then slams counter-top and I play Choke which resolves. I get slowly beat down by Meddling Mage while I Port his non-Islands every turn. He counters a couple Punishing Fires. Eventually - at 3 life - I find Grove and bait the Counter-Top with Crop Rotation. I Fires the Mage, but unfortunately I don't have enough mana to Port as well and he plays a second Mage on Punishing Fire. I have two draw steps to draw Dark Depths and don't get there (it was the next card). I completely forgot about Meddling Mage and realized I should have left in a couple of Mazes here. Still a pretty fun match though. 1-2

Good enough for second and some store credit. I think my boarding against Miracles was questionable and I didn't leave in enough anti-creature tech. I also need to play Crop Rotation a little better - I didn't use it aggressively enough vs. Miracles and used it to find a superfluous Land vs. DnT.

EDIT: I also made an interesting misplay game 3 vs. Miracles. I had him locked down to only one available land (a Plains) so he could only top once per turn. When he went to Top on upkeep, I attempted to Punishing Fire his Mage only to realize he was floating a 2. If I had waited until after the Top activation resolved and then cast Fires before his draw, I likely would have killed the Mage and perhaps took the game.

[Dice_Box]

Updated. There is now more videos, I have changed the titles to just give names and decks played. I think this is cleaner and easier to understand. It also makes it simple to find the matchups that might be on your mind at the moment. Also added a DRS section with the Split second trick. If I missed anything please let me know.

[gigapatrick]

To barcode:

I see what you're saying, but we're in disagreement on this point. With Top in play, the default should be to Port them during draw because this forces them to use their mana right away to spin Top for their next turn. Doing it during upkeep simply gives them a free spin before they draw. I agree that there are situations in which Porting on upkeep and then Porting again on draw are optimal, like when they're about to Entreat (which forces them to flip their Top before their draw step so that they trigger Miracle), but I don't think this came up in any meaningful way.