[PRIMER] Oozing

[Havrekjex]

I draw 14 and I have Devourer, Triskelion and ooze in hand without any reanimation spell. I decided to bin triskelion and Devourer, pass the turn and cast Ooze the turn after...what do I do? I also bin the Ooze....pass the turn, look at my hand and think of Captain Pickard in the best interpretation of a facepalm ever made...

That`s definitely tilt-worthy, but try to look on the bright side: you`re never ever going to do that again.

[Raystar]

That`s definitely tilt-worthy, but try to look on the bright side: you`re never ever going to do that again.

...I hope so, next time I'll bring a "slapper": somebody that will slap my neck every time I make a stupid move

[Havrekjex]

I`m bringing the ooze to a small local thing after work today, can`t wait. List:

Main Deck:

2 Swamp
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
2 Bayou

4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe

4 Entomb
3 Buried Alive
4 Shallow Grave
2 Reanimate

4 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize

1 Griselbrand
3 Necrotic Ooze
1 Phyrexian Devourer
1 Putrid Imp
1 Triskelion


Sideboard:

4 Abrupt Decay
2 Exhume
2 Massacre
2 Reverent Silence
2 Pithing Needle
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Helm of Obedience


I`m not confident about cutting Mox, but I really want a Thoughtseize in here somewhere, and when I cut a Probe last time, I regretted it. If I end up missing my Mox, I`ll either try replacing a Ponder, or rock it Pandaman style and play Thoughtseize as my 61th card.

Killing someone with Helm off of their own RIP is something I need to have done at least once in my life, so that stays until I can cross that from my bucket list.


Edit: Off topic, I hope you all have your ATQ Triskelions by now, because those beauties were recently bought out and tripled in price.

Edit 2: List updated with a U-Sea I borrowed. I`m finally picking up a second one for myself tomorrow, because playing with shocklands in this deck is beyond terrible.

[Raystar]

I`m bringing the ooze to a small local thing after work today, can`t wait. List:

Main Deck:

2 Swamp
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave :(
2 Bayou

4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe

4 Entomb
3 Buried Alive
4 Shallow Grave
2 Reanimate

4 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize

1 Griselbrand
3 Necrotic Ooze
1 Phyrexian Devourer
1 Putrid Imp
1 Triskelion


Sideboard:

4 Abrupt Decay
2 Exhume
2 Massacre
2 Reverent Silence
2 Pithing Needle
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Helm of Obedience


I`m not confident about cutting Mox, but I really want a Thoughtseize in here somewhere, and when I cut a Probe last time, I regretted it. If I end up missing my Mox, I`ll either try replacing a Ponder, or rock it Pandaman style and play Thoughtseize as my 61th card.

Killing someone with Helm off of their own RIP is something I need to have done at least once in my life, so that stays until I can cross that from my bucket list.


Edit: Off topic, I hope you all have your ATQ Triskelions by now, because those beauties were recently bought out and tripled in price.

Good list. I don't sleep well without the Mox but I think it is more me being a maniac

Of course I have an ATQ Triskelion...but I wonder what's happening...

[Havrekjex]

It`s a straight buyout. I guess Mr. Handy is kind of playable in the 93/94 format, where Black/White Knight are staples, WW is a tier 1 deck and 6 mana is reachable. So some bastard bought all they could get their hands on just to put them back up at TCGplayer at triple the price. Buying all copies of a rare from an old set like ATQ is relatively easy, since there aren`t that many copies out there. It happens to random Legends cards all the time.

Edit:

Tournament report!

Match 1: Helm/Leyline of the Void combo. I almost fell off my chair when he slammed a T0 Leyline game 1. Turns out his linear strategy is to mull/Serum Powders to a turn 0 Leyline every game and then ramp/tutor into a Helm. My only hope is to fish for Reverents post-board. I don't ever find them. He dies to his own Spoils of the Vault game two, so I lose 1-2.
We do 3-4 fun games and I'm never close.

Match 2: Elves. Game 1 I durdle and my cantrips are awful. Game 2 I Decay his DRS and go to town. Game 3 he blindsides me with a Leyline of the Void. I hate that card, why is it everywhere all of a sudden? 1-2

Match 3: Elves. He does nothing relevant and I walk all over him.
2-0.
He kind of seems upset, as if he feels like he should have won, asks me why I choose to play something so unreliable instead of straight Reanimator. I ask if he wants to play some more and I win three of out four pre-board just for fun games. Shouldn't have doubted the ooze.

Match 4: Storm. He does nothing relevant before I turn two and three him respectively. 2-0.

Ended up on 2-2, which I`m completely fine with considering that the first round was against a fringe deck that might literally be our worst imaginable matchup.

[Pin_Vlc]

Well done! Could you please share how you use the Confidants?

hello !

I played confidants and tendrils vs control deck .I cut the combo -3 buried -2 necrotic -1 triskelion -1devourer -1 griselbrand -2 exhume and take confidants, tendrils, decay...

T1 dark ritual cabal+dark confidant is very nice. Miracles side out swords to plousares and terminus,and with 2-3 confidant's atack we can win with a small storm.

But i continue testing !!!

[pandaman]

The Triskelion buyout is likely also to do with it becoming very playable in Vintage after Chalice of the Voice was banned. The majority of MUD decks now have three of them in the maindeck, along with playsets of Arcbound Ravager, Lodestone Golem, and Hangarback Walker.

Two decks in a tournament with LotV is tough mate, hard luck. Realistically, though, you don't usually hit those things. You won the other two matchups easily, which is testament to the power of the deck and good quality of your play.

I'm going to Ooze this coming Tuesday night because it's the holidays baby! Merry Oozing Christmas to you all!

[pandaman]

I have a foil Triskelion from Mirrodin, so my entire combo is foil (Ooze, PImp, and Trisk). Need to get foil Grizzy next.

[Havrekjex]

Don't worry, I have faith in this deck and I can see myself playing it for years. I believe it is about as powerful as a graveyard dependant combo deck can be, and I have a positive win/loss ratio even as a format and ooze novice, and I still do a lot of misplays. It's been said before, but I love its flavor-correct ability to slip (well, ooze) through any small opening and just win. I'm used to playing GBx style midrange decks, which feels kinda hack'n'slash, and this deck feels like a sniper rifle in comparison.

A huge bonus is getting underestimated all the time. They see me go off and think it's cute and clunky and not a "real deck", and remain confident for game 2 and 3, but then I do it again just as streamlined as the first time, and again and again, and their respect for the ooze grows slowly.



As for deck aesthetics, I'm all about first prints and searchability. We spend so much time searching through our deck that I want to make that as comfy as possible. Crisp white bordered duals and basics (7th basics - haters gonna hate), black bordered everything else, japanese Petals so I don't look twice at them when searching for Trisk or Devo, and I'm probably going to get my Grizzy blood splatter altered to make it pop. Tempest Rituals for nostalgic reasons. Oh, and one of my Entombs has an ice cream cone tournament stamp on top of the guy's head, it's hilarious.

[Pin_Vlc]

My current Sideboard:

3 Abrupt Decay
2 Massacre
2 Pithing Needle
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All ( im testing it )

3 xxx Free slots .

Ideas ? i need stuff vs leyline, chain or vapor or reverent silence ?
And the last slot ? Random discard vs combo ? Dark confidant ?

[Havrekjex]

My current Sideboard:

3 Abrupt Decay
2 Massacre
2 Pithing Needle
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All ( im testing it )

3 xxx Free slots .

Ideas ? i need stuff vs leyline, chain or vapor or reverent silence ?
And the last slot ? Random discard vs combo ? Dark confidant ?

My first thought is Exhume, are they in your main? And Reverent Silence? It's our only out against Leyline of the Vomit and it's jizztastic against Miracles. If in doubt, fourth Decay? The BGx decks just have a ton of hate to deal with.

[Pin_Vlc]

My first thought is Exhume, are they in your main? And Reverent Silence? It's our only out against Leyline of the Vomit and it's jizztastic against Miracles. If in doubt, fourth Decay? The BGx decks just have a ton of hate to deal with.

Why you play exhume in the sideboard ? In my maindeck i play 2 exhume , 1 reanimate, 4 shallow grave and 1 dark petition.Why you need more exhume ?

[Havrekjex]

Why you play exhume in the sideboard ? In my maindeck i play 2 exhume , 1 reanimate, 4 shallow grave and 1 dark petition.Why you need more exhume ?

You didn't post your main, so I presumed the usual 4 Shallow 2 Reanimate 0 Exhume. I guess it was lazy of me to not skip a page or two back to find your list, but I did ask if they were in your main. Now, looking at your list, the mainboard Exhumes make sense with your two Griselbrands for some classic Reanimator shenaningans.

I like the 4 Shallow 2 Reanimate setup myself, and that requires some Exhumes in the side. In the main, sometimes that last mana for Exhume over Reanimate trips you up when you try to combo early and costs you a turn or even a game. CMC is king. I tried Lotleth Troll over Imp for a short while, but you don't need to lack that last mana to go off for many times before you go back to Imp. My 7th MB reanimation spell would probably be Exhume though. Also, I like to have at least four permanent reanimation spells in the 75 if I'm playing Iona, so you might still consider an extra Exhume/Reanimate in the side... but you might count Petition as one of those, even though it can be a bit slow or require a Ritual. But all those things are just small preferential details.

Mainboard differences aside, I`d spend two of those three open sideboard slots on Reverent Silence. The card has been very good to me. Reverent costs one mana less than Chain of Vapor when you play it for zero, it`s easier to play through a Counter-Top than Chain, and it can give you a two-for-one against Miracles when they have Counterbalance and Rest in Peace. I still haven`t had the pleasure of resolving it against Enchantress, but I`m looking forward to that too.


...I post way too much in this thread.

[Raystar]

You didn't post your main, so I presumed the usual 4 Shallow 2 Reanimate 0 Exhume. I guess it was lazy of me to not skip a page or two back to find your list, but I did ask if they were in your main. Now, looking at your list, the mainboard Exhumes make sense with your two Griselbrands for some classic Reanimator shenaningans.

I like the 4 Shallow 2 Reanimate setup myself, and that requires some Exhumes in the side. In the main, sometimes that last mana for Exhume over Reanimate trips you up when you try to combo early and costs you a turn or even a game. CMC is king. I tried Lotleth Troll over Imp for a short while, but you don't need to lack that last mana to go off for many times before you go back to Imp. My 7th MB reanimation spell would probably be Exhume though. Also, I like to have at least four permanent reanimation spells in the 75 if I'm playing Iona, so you might still consider an extra Exhume/Reanimate in the side... but you might count Petition as one of those, even though it can be a bit slow or require a Ritual. But all those things are just small preferential details.

Mainboard differences aside, I`d spend two of those three open sideboard slots on Reverent Silence. The card has been very good to me. Reverent costs one mana less than Chain of Vapor when you play it for zero, it`s easier to play through a Counter-Top than Chain, and it can give you a two-for-one against Miracles when they have Counterbalance and Rest in Peace. I still haven`t had the pleasure of resolving it against Enchantress, but I`m looking forward to that too.


...I post way too much in this thread.

No way, you post good content and we all listen ;)

[Raystar]

I found some time to play on modo and I'm re-creating a match-up table post DTT. I'll publish the table when I'll be over the 30 matches mark.

First impressions:

• There is a lot more of storm combo on MODO currently
• ANT with Dark Petition is stronger than before and we are 50/50 with them now. I'll have to tune the SB a bit
• TES is nasty they are as fast as we are and pack a ton of discard. I never played against TES before and didn't have a reference
• Before starting the new table I played some matches and won two times against Miracles...it was my lucky day ;) I'm not recording those because I'm sure it was pure luck

So far so good at 60% won

[Pin_Vlc]

My list :

// Lands
2 [LRW] Swamp (2)
1 [8E] Island (3)
2 [B] Underground Sea
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
1 [A] Tropical Island
1 [A] Bayou
1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest

// Creatures
1 [AL] Phyrexian Devourer
1 [M11] Triskelion
2 [SOM] Necrotic Ooze
2 [AVR] Griselbrand

// Spells
4 [OD] Entomb
3 [WL] Buried Alive
4 [MI] Shallow Grave
2 [US] Exhume
4 [TE] Lotus Petal
4 [A] Dark Ritual
3 [M13] Duress
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
4 [5E] Brainstorm
4 [M12] Ponder
1 [ORI] Dark Petition
1 [MR] Chrome Mox
1 [TE] Reanimate

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SOM] Necrotic Ooze
SB: 3 [RTR] Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 [NE] Massacre
SB: 1 [ZEN] Iona, Shield of Emeria
SB: 2 [RTR] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [AL] Helm of Obedience
SB: 2 [CHK] Boseiju, Who Shelters All

+3 free slots

[Raystar]

My list :

// Lands
2 [LRW] Swamp (2)
1 [8E] Island (3)
2 [B] Underground Sea
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
1 [A] Tropical Island
1 [A] Bayou
1 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest

// Creatures
1 [AL] Phyrexian Devourer
1 [M11] Triskelion
2 [SOM] Necrotic Ooze
2 [AVR] Griselbrand

// Spells
4 [OD] Entomb
3 [WL] Buried Alive
4 [MI] Shallow Grave
2 [US] Exhume
4 [TE] Lotus Petal
4 [A] Dark Ritual
3 [M13] Duress
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
4 [5E] Brainstorm
4 [M12] Ponder
1 [ORI] Dark Petition
1 [MR] Chrome Mox
1 [TE] Reanimate

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SOM] Necrotic Ooze
SB: 3 [RTR] Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 [NE] Massacre
SB: 1 [ZEN] Iona, Shield of Emeria
SB: 2 [RTR] Pithing Needle
SB: 1 [AL] Helm of Obedience
SB: 2 [CHK] Boseiju, Who Shelters All

+3 free slots

Hey Pin,

thanks for the list.

The only thing that makes me a bit nervous is the absence of Gitaxian Probe. Those 4 additional cantrips have won me many games, especially against very fast decks...since I started playing the full set of probes the deck has really improved I really suggest to try them.

I'm also not really sure about the Helm in side, by the time you see it against RiP your opponent is probably already in control and I doubt it's going to land. I also dismissed the Boisejus, they are rarely relevant. The SB I'm playing at the moment is:

3 Abrupt Decay
2 Reverent Silence
2 Ground Seal
1 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Massacre
2 Exhume
2 Carpet of Flowers

Please remember that I play 3 Ooze MD, and 4 Shallow Grave+2 Reanimate MD. I found that BURG and Shardless BUG generally go completely upside down if I land a quick Ground Seal, to bring those in I exchange the Reanimate with the Exhume from the SB. Exhume also gets in against anything playing CotV.

[Raystar]

I forgot to add...

My philosophy in sideboarding with Oozing follows two rules:

• No more than 5 cards go in (with the exception of the additional Exhume/Reanimate switch)
• Generally 4 cards go out

Yes, I pretty much always play G2 with 61 cards...

[Havrekjex]

I like those Seals enough to steal them, the way both Exhume and Shallow Grave bypasses it is just too elegant. It seems like a good replacement for Pithing Needle since DRS is the prime target for both, and if we`re going by RayStars five card sideboarding limit, we don`t have the room for siding in Needle against Miracles. That said, I have no problem siding in six cards in the Miracles matchup, two Reverent and four Decays, because they have at least that many targets that we absolutely definitely need gone to proceed with our game plan.

I cut a Probe for a Thoughtseize for a while recently and didn`t like it at all. My reasoning for the swap was that it feels annoying to Probe without any disruption and see something that you can`t touch, but on the other hand we are often in a situation where we can use Probe to see that the coast is clear for 0 mana, and then go off immediately with the mana we didn`t spend on Probe. With a Thoughtseize over a Probe I would often play a turn one TS that might have been a Probe, only to realize that if I`d Probed for zero and then used my first mana on something like Ritual into reanimation shenanigans, I`d be better off. Not all opposing decks start off with a hand full of counterspells. I`d rather cut something else to fit another discard or two, like a Ponder, an Ooze, the Mox or a Therapy (mostly because my Therapy blind sniping skills are sorely lacking).


I love playing 8 fetchlands, by the way. Honestly, I started off with this because I don`t own the third sea and three Swamps are too many non-blue sources, but to be honest, I`ve never been in a situation where lacking the third Sea has come back to bite my ass, and I`m always glad to have a lot of shuffle effects for Brainstorm, so I don`t really see myself adding the third Sea. My current land base for reference:

2 Swamp
1 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats

The only room for improvement I see here is the non-Delta fetchland distribution. Right now they`re spread as widely as possible because… well, because why not, but I`m trying to figure out if there are any high tier BUx decks we want to imitate more than others with our usual turn one non-Delta fetch into Sea into Ponder or Therapy, and I`ve been meaning to investigate what decks those might be and which decks might lead our opponents to make decisions that we would like them to make. It probably won`t matter in 99% of our games, but it`s something to tinker with.

[Raystar]

I like those Seals enough to steal them, the way both Exhume and Shallow Grave bypasses it is just too elegant. It seems like a good replacement for Pithing Needle since DRS is the prime target for both, and if we`re going by RayStars five card sideboarding limit, we don`t have the room for siding in Needle against Miracles. That said, I have no problem siding in six cards in the Miracles matchup, two Reverent and four Decays, because they have at least that many targets that we absolutely definitely need gone to proceed with our game plan.

I cut a Probe for a Thoughtseize for a while recently and didn`t like it at all. My reasoning for the swap was that it feels annoying to Probe without any disruption and see something that you can`t touch, but on the other hand we are often in a situation where we can use Probe to see that the coast is clear for 0 mana, and then go off immediately with the mana we didn`t spend on Probe. With a Thoughtseize over a Probe I would often play a turn one TS that might have been a Probe, only to realize that if I`d Probed for zero and then used my first mana on something like Ritual into reanimation shenanigans, I`d be better off. Not all opposing decks start off with a hand full of counterspells. I`d rather cut something else to fit another discard or two, like a Ponder, an Ooze, the Mox or a Therapy (mostly because my Therapy blind sniping skills are sorely lacking).


I love playing 8 fetchlands, by the way. Honestly, I started off with this because I don`t own the third sea and three Swamps are too many non-blue sources, but to be honest, I`ve never been in a situation where lacking the third Sea has come back to bite my ass, and I`m always glad to have a lot of shuffle effects for Brainstorm, so I don`t really see myself adding the third Sea. My current land base for reference:

2 Swamp
1 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats

The only room for improvement I see here is the non-Delta fetchland distribution. Right now they`re spread as widely as possible because… well, because why not, but I`m trying to figure out if there are any high tier BUx decks we want to imitate more than others with our usual turn one non-Delta fetch into Sea into Ponder or Therapy, and I`ve been meaning to investigate what decks those might be and which decks might lead our opponents to make decisions that we would like them to make. It probably won`t matter in 99% of our games, but it`s something to tinker with.

Very good points man.

I actually also like your reasoning behind the USeas. In terms of fetchlands, the reason I go full verdant catacombs is exactly what you explained: camouflage Every BUG deck plays them and I would strongly suggest to avoid the Bloodstained Mires...only storm plays them and you really want to hide that you are combo
In addition, by playing the Catacombs, you are also not being seen as Reanimator. In general I also avoid playing the Petals immediately (unless necessary, like against MUD, ofc), to not give away that I'm playing combo. I'm pretty sure that I won some G1 just by mis-representing what I was playing.

Another thing that happens sometimes (especially on MTGO), is that people concede when you manage to put Griselbrand into play in G1, thinking that you are Reanimator and they can't win once Grizzie goes online...I almost always surprise them on G2

Edit: what I mean is that by neglecting to see the rest of the combo they don't understand that the deck can win without Griselbrand being part of the story...I get Needle on Griselbrand in G2 very often.