I've been on 4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder, 1 Jace for a loooong time and haven't felt the need for additional card draw. Maybe a 2nd Jace at times, but that's a fleeting feeling at best. Like, our bombs are so strong, it's simply a matter of finding them. Also, since alert a bit more reactive with more countermagic than Esper, the cantripping filtering is super important to maximize chances of holding right answers at right moment.
Never tested Elspeth, but the difference between 1/1 tokens and 2/2 tokens is huuuuge. Like, in a world of Golgari Charm, Night of Souls Betrayal, Zealous Persecution, I want the 2/2 all the way. Gideon randomly being a 5/5 by himself matters a ton vs the non-StP decks. She's worth testing, but my gut says Gideon is likely better in more spots.
Lands [20]Originally Posted by Vandalize
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Creeping Tar Pit
Creatures [9]
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 True-Name Nemesis
Spells [31]
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Painful Truths
4 Force of Will
2 Counterspell
1 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate
2 Lingering Souls
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard [15]
3 Meddling Mage
2 Back to Basics
2 Council's Judgement
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Rest in Peace
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Pithing Needle
Deck has been awesome, I'm 9-1 in my last 10 matches against tier decks. I miss Wasteland sometimes, but I guess that's the tradeoff for playing Blade Control.
Let your Dredge 6 be: Narco, Narco, Narco, Bridge, Bridge, Dread Return
Hey guys, lately I have been on a bit of a spirit quest to find a deck that I can enjoy. I played Shardless for a long time after DTT got the banhammer, but I became dissatisfied with my win % and some of that deck's general weaknesses. I tried Miracles, Sneak and Show, Grixis Delver/Control, BUG Delver, and the Eldrazi menace, but nothing seemed to fit.
I knew that I wanted to combine elements of all of my favorite decks, such as the general midrange creature approach of Shardless, Snapcasters/Blood Moon/best counterspells from Miracles, powerful planeswalkers to win grindy games, and lastly Stoneforge Mystic. SFM into Batterskull is a totally awesome play vs Eldrazi and is the main reason I am playing this over Miracles.
This led me to try the following configuration, based on Shane Remelt's decklist from a SCG top 8 a little while ago, with a personal tweak for Blood Moon in the sideboard:
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 True-Name Nemesis
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Council's Judgment
4 Force of Will
1 Counterspell
1 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
2 Mishra's Factory
1 Karakas
Sideboard
2 Blood Moon
2 Wear / Tear
2 Pyroblast
2 Rest in Peace
2 Meddling Mage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Flusterstorm
1 Containment Priest
1 Izzet Staticaster
I am still iffy about some of the configurations, but I think this deck is well poised in the current metagame. You are a little scared of facing things like 4c Loam, but the blood moons and TNN can swing that matchup.
Some other ideas I have been entertaining are 1-of Roast in the sideboard, Nahiri, the Harbinger in the 3rd Jace slot (just for value, not for Emrakul ultimate), and maybe adding a Surgical Extraction in place of a Rest in Peace.
So far I have played a few matches and it seems pretty solid. I have split matches with Eldrazi, beaten two BUG/4 color midrange decks, beat Sneak and Show featuring Omniscience, lost to Burning Reanimator, and lost to UR Delver.
Any deckbuilding tips from someone who has been playing Blade more recently are welcome!
53rd place UWr Blade list at GP Prague: http://tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=20761&iddeck=158756
4 Brainstorm, 4 Ponder. I like this look, but weary of the 19 lands. I'd try to run no less than 20 (I'm on 22 personally) if you were going that route. 4cc things are real.
Yeah I'm not sure about the 19 lands. I'd even be hesitant on the 19 lands miracles list despite the 4 top, 4 brainstorm, 4 ponder, and 1 preordain if it didn't curve out at 3 excluding the sideboard entreat.
Hey there everyone! I'm Brandon, and I've been on the R splash for about 4 years now (as long as I've played Legacy). I've been lurking for some time, but hadn't bothered to post since I didn't think I had much to pass along as far as the deck goes. That said, I proudly wave the banner when I get the chance.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...?DeckID=104369
Mini tourney report time From memory, so details may be a bit off. Left the house at 9:30 for an hour-and-a-half drive. Run into 2 accidents on the way while grabbing Arby's, so I get there with 20 minutes to go.
Two constants haunt me in tournaments: I'll lost Round One, and if there's a "12-year-old-kid " around, we WILL get paired up and I'll lose that match. You'll see a recurring theme of me making dumb mistakes. I'm the only Lafayette guy there, as everyone else is either working or in Columbus, but I get along with some of the Rocket's Hideout (a Baton Rouge shop) regulars.
Round One: Thomas with Grixis Delver. I've played against him at Dallas last year when he was on BUG Delver, and watched him at an IQ a few months ago when he was on UR Delver. He's in the Top 2 players at the event IMO.
Game 1: I keep 2 Force, Pierce, TNN, Bstorm, 2 Fetches. He keeps 6. He goes T1 Misty, fetch Sea, cast DRS then T2 Therapy, so I put him on BUG and fight over the Therapy. This was dumb, as we go through a counter-war with me on the losing end (Silver lining: He names Counterbalance)and down to 4 cards with no board presence. I get Wastelanded once and YP does what YP does while chaining cantrips. I bought myself 2 turns with Elspeth but couldn't get to EE.
Game 2 I fetch basics thanks to Blood Moon in opener. He resolves YP and I stick Snapcaster, then bait him to tap out with removal on his turn before sticking Blood moon, leading to a scoop.
Game 3 I keep a bad hand: 2 Force, SFM, 4 lands. He sticks T1 Delver, T2 reveal Daze and Flip then 2nd Delver. I go for Mystic, he has Daze and Force, and I prematurely scoop so I can eat some sammich and get my head right.
The streak of losing R1s continues. 0-1
Round 2: Carlos on Enchantress. A regional ringer, he and Thomas are #1 and #2 in the room, and to face them both right off the bat had me thinking it was gonna be a short day. Seeing him at 0-1 was a surprise.
Game 1: He starts the game off with Leyline of the Void and I'm instantly in a better mood cuz I know I'm in for a wild ride. He starts doing his think with Wild Growths, Explorations, and Utopia Sprawls while lacking a draw engine. I stick TNN and start to race. He E-Tutors for Helm, I counter Helm. He draws the 2nd Helm and Serra's Sanctum and I counter the Helm again. I get Batterskull in play and get him to 5 before he deals with the token. He floats mana with Sanctum, then casts Crop Rotation with one card left in hand. I have FoW in hand and mana to hardcast, but decide to hold it (Mistake again). He gets another Sanctum and he gets to 15 mana for Emrakul. He swings, I go to 6 and sac all but TNN and a R-producing land, playing to my only out (Bolt) and get rewarded with one off the top.
Game 2: This one goes horribly wrong and I'm dead to Emrakul AND Helm combo by turn 5.
Game 3: I curve out with Ponder into Canonist into TNN into TNN with counter backup the rest of the game. I'm relieved to not be out already. Just gotta win out from here.
1-1
Round 3: West with Death and Taxes. Remember what I said about "12 year olds"? Well, here we are again. Last time I played against him was the last IQ at Gamers Paradise and he was on Storm. I lost that one. This time, I know he's on my best matchup and hasn't played the deck long so I'm feeling loose and confident that I can get that monkey off my back.
I admit that I don't remember much from this match besides both games sticking SFM + Jitte + removal and explaining interactions between Vendilion Clique and Containment Priest with Vial and Spirit of the Labyrinth.
2-1
Pairings after Round 3: 2 matches with unintentional draws leads to 4 people with 7 points, 2 with 6, and the rest with 3 or less.
Round 4: Matt with Belcher. ID to lock in 6th seed. We talk while we wait for the last 2 slots to be decided and go over Belcher lines. I get to show off The CeddyP Special for a bit.
Top 8 was Grixis Delver vs Burn, Belcher vs RUG Lands, WUR Stoneblade vs D&T and Infect vs Shardless BUG.
Quarterfinals: Connor with Death and Taxes. We also played at the last IQ and he lamented getting his 2nd worst matchup. This one went similarly.
Game 1: Even though I was on the draw, I still get to impose my will this game with TNN + Jitte even after double Wasteland.
Game 2: I get Ported out while Vial does it's job and drops Avenger and Flickerwisp.
Game 3: We go SFM fetching BSkull, with StP for each. I drop a 2nd Mystic while he gets Thalia and 2 Revokes (Jitte and Batterskull) but I get Supreme Verdict for the nut high. He gets his 2nd Mystic (for Manriki) and Mother, casting Manriki with 2 open. I Wear the equipment and Forge in Batterskull in the meantime. I drop Elspeth and start Jumping the Germ which is enough to give me the win through his own Germ.
On to the semis!
We decide to split the prize payout evenly and I scoop to Mike playing Infect as I didn't have much need for the invite. He ends up getting the blue envelope and I win the door prize playmate to go along with the Top 8 one. Picked up an Emrakul and drinks with the store credit and pocketed the cash, hung around talking to some of the players. It was small, but we all gotta start somewhere!
My build's more towards combating mid-range decks than most, and I've kinda stonewalled with reaching the right amount of answers to the right amount of pressure to keep people from coming back, and I'd like a bit of help on that front. Thoughts?
Stoneblade is the most fun deck in Legacy. If you want to win, you might play something else. If you want to play with the most fun cards in the format, there is no romance sweeter than between the Mind Sculptor and his Batterskull-toting companion. In this meta, you will be playing against Eldrazi and Miracles. You want Baleful Strix to fight Eldrazi, but you want Pyroblast or Wear/Tear to fight Miracles. Would it be possible to squeeze in both for a Dark Jeskai Stoneblade?
I don't think so. 4 color decks require an unstable manabase, and without Deathrite Shaman (which requires green as well), it's kinda hard to keep it all togheter.
Let your Dredge 6 be: Narco, Narco, Narco, Bridge, Bridge, Dread Return
I agree with this. I tried it a few times, I played one volcanic in the board, also tried one main and would only side in the red blasts against deck that was taking most of the black cards out, such as miracles. It just wasn't worth it. You're better off fighting miracles with white or black cards (planeswalkers or draw spells, or both).
I really don't think you need strix's for eldrazi. SFM, TNN and any mass removal (supreme verdict and EE) are all really good against them. My win rate vs eldrazi with esper is ridiculous.
True-Name is pretty bad against Eldrazi. Reality Smasher gets in for 4 against a TNN every turn, and a turn 2 TKS gets it out of your hand before you can play it, play or draw. A turn two TKS also makes a turn 2 SFM way worse also. Finally, TNN doesn't even kill a TKS in normal combat, and also cannot race it, which I think is unacceptable. I play Shardless now, but I used to play Esperblade and I am am pretty sure that Strix is a very good way to beat Eldrazi, good against Delver and Tarmogoyf in general.
If they don't chalice on 1, then your creatures can get there even though you're still south of 50%. With Chalice, you're worse off than other midrange decks since your threats are +1cmc more on average for comparable value and you don't have YP or Angler that can still get value out of running cantrips into it.
I don't know, TNN has been pretty good for me vs. Eldrazi. Outside of exactly Smasher, he can stall until you're able to find Batterskull, which is the true MVP vs. that deck.
While i certainly agree that strix is good vs eldrazi, that wasn't my point. My point was that it's just not needed. Eldrazi is already a very good match up for esper stoneblade and I wouldn't add any cards for that match up. Also, TNN is very good in the match up. Smasher does trample over it, but that does not make TNN bad, as it's good in many other situations. The TKS scenario doesn't make sense, by that logic anything that costs >1 cmc is bad versus eldrazi.
Pretty sure he meant that TKS T2 when they're on the draw is highly likely to get the equipment you searched for if you rawdog'd SFM T2 on the play.
Of course, this is why using Brainstorm is the biggest determiner of this matchup IMO.
Isn't "don't rawdog Stoneforge Mystic against probable discard" one of the deck's most basic lessons?
They are only going to have a turn 2 TKS 38% of the time if they are on the draw, same with turn 3 on the play (since you will play SFM turn 2).
I'd say it's a risk worth taking, because an early unanswered Batterskull can lead to an easy win in this situation if they don't have the TKS.
@btm: yes. However, there is value in having a Mystic that isn't summoning sick. In that situation, grabbing Jitte can be an acceptable line to force their hand on TKS while keeping Skull in your back pocket. If they don't have it, then they fall way behind to Jitte with 2 counters.
I'm using 'rawdog' pretty broadly here - if they don't have Chalice, it's probably fine since you can hide the Batterskull with Brainstorm or hang in the game with Plow. It's fine turn 2 on the play with Force backup. Unless your hand is just generally awkward or you need the equipmemt to stabilize, I don't see any major reason to run out an early SFM against Eldrazi.
I agree that you usually don't want to rawdog a turn two sfm into Batteskull. Going for Jitte is fine, it's not a huge loss if they take it, but you often would rather just hold STP or brainstorm open. On the other hand hand, turn one thoughtseize or have fow + blue card make turn two sfm for bskull a great play.
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