[Deck] 12 Post

[Cyborg]

To be honest it's one of the base toolbox lands that I wouldn't consider messing with. Those lands being:
Bojuka Bog for recurring wasteland decks and graveyard matters decks.
Cavern of Souls not for fetching out early with your land tutors cause the decks you're playing against that you need it for will happily counter a crop rotation and laugh as you 2 for 1 yourself. But for that nice draw or late game tutor where you can have an uncounterable prime time or fatty resolve to secure you the win.
Eye of Ugin because it lets you grab fatties out of your deck
Glacial Chasm because it lets you cheese a few extra turns out in the face of certain death. (Fuck you death rite shaman and your loss of life crap)
Karakas because infinite loop as well as being able to combat sns/reanimator type decks
Vesuva/s good against blood moon effects as well as giving us extra locus copies or more bojuka bogs main board.

In the current meta I think that Cavern is a good include to evade countermagic to resolve a prime time. Now the reason why you don't run more than one is because you actually need the colored mana for other things in the deck as well as an already tight mana base.

[MechTactical]

How important is Cavern to UG builds? How often do you actually tutor for it?

(I've never really cared about countermagic too much with Cg, since my only creatures are Eldrazi. Besides S&T, it's the only major UG card I don't have already.)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If u r running map u should include it. In builds without map (crop only) i didnt tutor 4 it yet (except 1 corner case very late in the game, when i could afford crop to get countered and wanted to 100% sure ...), though, it does randomly save yo ass when u need it and find it via sdt / brainstorm... Does some color fixing as well, which can be a factor in UG. Helps alot in trinket builds.

[Slayer89]

I'm rather new to this deck, but Tuesday I'll be playing in a small event with the following list (most likely)


Creature [9]
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
4 Primeval Titan
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Planeswalker [2]
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Spell [24]
1 All Is Dust
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Crop Rotation
2 Expedition Map
3 Explore
2 Grapple with the Past
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Moment's Peace
2 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top

Land [25]
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Cloudpost
1 Eye of Ugin
9 Forest
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Glacial Chasm
4 Glimmerpost
2 Thespian's Stage
2 Vesuva

SIDEBOARD [15]
3 Elephant Grass
2 Nature's Claim
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Warping Wail

The courser should be a oracle, but I didn't realize that I didn't have one until too late. The sideboard is a bit of a throw together of hate cards and items from the original 60 that got cut along the way. Now. granted I won't have much of a card pool available to get new pieces before the event, any suggestions?

[mykatdied]

I'm rather new to this deck, but Tuesday I'll be playing in a small event with the following list (most likely)


Creature [9]
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
4 Primeval Titan
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Planeswalker [2]
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Spell [24]
1 All Is Dust
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Crop Rotation
2 Expedition Map
3 Explore
2 Grapple with the Past
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Moment's Peace
2 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top

Land [25]
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Cloudpost
1 Eye of Ugin
9 Forest
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Glacial Chasm
4 Glimmerpost
2 Thespian's Stage
2 Vesuva

SIDEBOARD [15]
3 Elephant Grass
2 Nature's Claim
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Warping Wail

The courser should be a oracle, but I didn't realize that I didn't have one until too late. The sideboard is a bit of a throw together of hate cards and items from the original 60 that got cut along the way. Now. granted I won't have much of a card pool available to get new pieces before the event, any suggestions?

Seems mostly fine. If you have the full set of Vesuva I would stick with that over stage. The entering triggers of lands like bog and Glimmerpost are better to have available if you can get the Vesuvas.

Courser is likely ok to replace for Oracle. You don't get the extra lands, but life gain and a bigger butt are useful against aggro.

If you have emrakul, the Promised End it is actually really good. I would suggest finding room for it.

[Mr. Froggy]

I'm rather new to this deck, but Tuesday I'll be playing in a small event with the following list (most likely)


Creature [9]
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
4 Primeval Titan
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Planeswalker [2]
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Spell [24]
1 All Is Dust
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Crop Rotation
2 Expedition Map
3 Explore
2 Grapple with the Past
3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Moment's Peace
2 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top

Land [25]
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Cloudpost
1 Eye of Ugin
9 Forest
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Glacial Chasm
4 Glimmerpost
2 Thespian's Stage
2 Vesuva

SIDEBOARD [15]
3 Elephant Grass
2 Nature's Claim
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Spatial Contortion
1 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Tormod's Crypt
3 Warping Wail

The courser should be a oracle, but I didn't realize that I didn't have one until too late. The sideboard is a bit of a throw together of hate cards and items from the original 60 that got cut along the way. Now. granted I won't have much of a card pool available to get new pieces before the event, any suggestions?

How's Grapple?

[Saab93]

Went 3-0-1 this week playing bant post.

R1: Shardless BUG, Win 2-0
Notes-
Game 1:
Newer player I think, vocally sized me up as a Miracles player for some reason before the match even began. Played into his train of thought with island + sensei's divining top turn 1. Turn 2 cloudpost and pass definitely caught him off guard. Swords to plowshare'd his first goyf, eventually terminus'd his shardless agent, baleful strix, and deathrite. Show and tell a primeval titan after cleaning up the board, proceed to win.

Game 2:
He mulligans to six, anemic beats with baleful strix while waiting for visions to pop. I cast terminus, then follow up with hard casting primeval titan next turn. Maelstrom pulse sends the titan to the bin, but he has no removal for the second titan I retrieve via green sun's zenith.

Sideboarding-

-2 Show and Tell

+2 Rest in Peace

R2: Eldrazi and Taxes, Win 2-1

Notes-
Game 1:
Get blown out turn three when I cast show and tell; I put in Ulamog, he puts in Palace Jailer.
Get blown out again on my last turn before lethal when he casts containment priest in response to my green sun's zenith.

Game 2:
Turn one and turn two consist of me playing cloudpost and him wastelanding said cloudpost. I kept a fairly land heavy hand and he doesn't really have much pressure, so I eventually cast primeval titan.

Game 3:
He gets out eldrazi displacer and jitte for some beats. Pops his seal of cleansing in response to a fetchland to force me to shuffle my divining top away.
Critical turn- I almost green sun for titan, think better of it with his mana open for a possible containment priest ambush. Instead I cast sakura tribe elder, which immediately grabs a forest due to his activation of jitte on it. This sets me up for the next turn to have enough mana to cast engineered explosives set to 2, then cast green sun's zenith with a cloudpost untapped to potentially activate the engineered explosives. He tanks for awhile and I start to think of possible ways I might get blown out again haha. Green sun's zenith resolves, game is quickly wrapped up. Turns out he had warping wail to counter the green sun's zenith but not the colorless mana to cast it.

Sideboarding-

-4 Show and Tell
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Reclamation Sage
+2 Krosan Grip

R3: RUG delver, Win 2-0
Notes-
Game 1:
Swords to plowshare and terminus keep the pressure to a manageable level. Veteran explorer chump blocks a goyf and ramps me into two basic forests. Eventually resolve primeval titan and win.

Game 2:
Sensei's divining top eats a spell pierce, which I'm pretty happy about. Delay casting show and tell until turn four to play around daze, forcing him to pitch his daze to force of will, again pretty happy about it. Turn five cast show and tell again, he drops in delver while I drop in new Kozilek with a divining top and sylvan library in hand. I counter his brainstorm on his turn, he swings in with two flipped delvers. I swing in with Kozilek a second time for lethal and he casts price of progress, which I counter.

Sideboarding-
Did not sideboard. I considered bringing counter magic for price of progress, but I honestly could not figure out what to take out. Game one felt so good I didn't want to dilute the primary game plan at all. If I had dropped in primeval titan I would have lost to his price of progress in hand, however. So even though I won the match without sideboarding, I don't think it was correct to do so. Next time I'll probably do:

-1 Show and Tell
-1 Green sun's zenith
-1 Something else? Honestly not sure. Probably Dryad Arbor because he sucks.
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Swan Song
+1 Blue Elemental Blast

R4: Infect, Intentionally Draw
Notes-
He offers to draw, I quickly agree since this match up seems so lopsided in his favor lol. We still play for fun though.

Game 1:
Keep hand that can show and tell Emrakul on turn three, which he dazes and follows up with invigorate + berserk.

Game 2:
Ethersworn canonist and meddling mage naming invigorate hold down the fort for awhile. I attack into his blighted agent with the two hatebears. Crop rotation for pendelhaven takes out meddling mage. He swings back and invigorates his blighted agent. I no longer value ethersworn canonist very highly, decide to draw with top and terminus the board. On my turn I recast top and pass the turn. He animates inkmoth nexus, attacks, and pumps it with vines. I draw with top again, and kill it with krosan grip. On my turn I show and tell primeval titan and he concedes.

Game 3:
This game involved a lot of maneuvering which I enjoyed immensely. He forces my veteran explorer, I go into the tank about flusterstorming it but decide against it. I delay casting show and tell until the next turn when I can protect it with flusterstorm, but end up using it to counter his invigorate. At this point I'm at seven infect counters. My show and tell resolves, I drop in primeval titan. I grab cloudpost and eye of ugin, and hope that primeval titan blocking can be enough to survive until my next turn. On his turn he ends up drawing into submerge with sylvan library. Womp womp.

Sideboarding-

-1 Dryad arbor
-1 Sakura tribe elder
-1 Sylvan library
-4 Green sun's zenith (Seems too slow, not enough time grab prime time)
+1 Flusterstorm
+1 Swan Song
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Ethersworn canonist
+1 Meddling mage
+2 Krosan grip

Overall:
Decklist is similar to the one posted here, with the following changes-
Mainboard:

-1 Platinum Emperion
+1 New Kozilek

Sideboard:

2 Rest in peace
1 Surgical extraction
1 Tormod's crypt
1 Meddling mage
1 Ethersworn canonist
1 Gaddock teeg
1 Reclamation sage
1 Flusterstorm
1 Swan song
1 Blue elemental blast
2 Krosan grip
1 Engineered explosives
1 Chill

Considering adding Melira to the sideboard for weekly events if I know someone is playing infect. Probably overkill though. Personally, the bant and G/w versions have been performing better for me than the U/G version. Impressed how well the bant mana base performs.

[Ehhh]

It's pretty bad. I have a guy at my LGS who likes to troll with it. Generally, game 1 is absolutely awful unless you nut draw or know what you're playing and get down an early Needle for Cavern Harpy. After that, Grip can do a lot of work since they can't respond to it. The last thing to remember, that people seem to often forget, is that Aluren is symmetrical. This usually won't matter, but if you're running something like Ethersworn Canonist out of the board, you might have an opportunity to interrupt them.

yeah my list also plays Leyline of Sanctity which helps buy time to setup for Needle / Ethersworn / Grip interactions.. matchup isn't as terrible when you have ways to stall them from comboing off.

[mykatdied]

I've also found sphere of resistance to be fine in buying time against aluren. At the very least it stalls then from killing a few turns until you can get emrakul online

[Ehhh]

Always get Glacial Chasm off a Primeval Titan trigger so they can't just Price you to death. Maze and Fog effects can hold back idiots in the mean time.

The key is to eliminate early pressure via Delver / Swiftspear if possible with Wail or Swords (Using that now) with sideboard support to stabilize against PoP via CoP: Red - also Crop into Glacial Chasm or Prime Time like you said.

[Ehhh]

I plan to stream my Post deck all of Sunday (09/25/16) when I wake up [10AMpst] until I fall asleep if you guys want to talk about some post ideas.
Stream : Twitch.tv/ehhhhhhh

Current List

3 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Pithing Needle
2 Moat
4 Primeval Titan
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Warping Wail
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
3 Crop Rotation
4 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Swords to Plowshares

1 Bojuka Bog
1 Eye of Ugin
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Dark Depths
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
1 Vesuva
4 Windswept Heath
3 Savannah
1 Snow-Covered Plains
3 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Karakas
1 Thespian's Stage
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Glacial Chasm


1 Dawnstrider
2 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Krosan Grip
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Rest in Peace

[k_omega]

Last weekend I barely missed top 16 at a Black Lotus tournament, and with real-life concerns now out of the way I'm putting up my report for posterity. I played mono-G with no splash and maindeck TKS:

4 Primeval Titan
2 TKS
1 Old Emrakul, New Emrakul, New Ulamog
2 Ugin

4 Crop Rotation, Top
3 Map, Needle, Ancient Stirrings, Warping Wail
1 Candelabra, Moment's Peace

5 Forest
4 Cloudpost, Glimmerpost
3 Windswept Heath
2 Vesuva, Cavern of Souls
1 Stage, Khalni Garden, Karakas, Bog, Chasm, Eye, Tabernacle

SB:
4 Leyline of Sanctity (the "splash", though basically uncastable)
3 Krosan Grip, Surgical
2 Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance
1 Pithing Needle

This build is the current evolutionary stage in my testing of Gw builds. I started testing with Machooga's 2x Ancient Tomb build and was disappointed with that card, but impressed by TKS. Being the proverbial ounce of prevention while clogging the ground was a huge deal, and I incorporated it into the Ancient Stirrings version that I have been playing for most of this year. I think 2-3 is the right number of copies and originally wanted to play 3, but decided instead to maindeck a Moment's Peace in view of the other eldrazi deck (lowercase 'e' for them) and Infect.

4c Loam has been growing in popularity in my area, and the Lands decks are starting to board Chalices instead of Spheres as their combo hate so I was worried about this build's vulnerability to Chalice at 1. In the past I have boarded Sacred Ground to fight these Wasteland-recursion decks, which effectively dodges Chalice but requires white mana. Since April I have been using Surgical Extraction instead, to have a bit more early interaction against some varieties of combo and (though I hate to say it) to counter opposing Surgicals. For this tournament I decided to double-down on Surgical over Sacred Ground because 1) the D&T decks seem to be moving away from Cataclysm and Miracles seems to have moved away from Ruination to fight Eldrazi, and 2) apparently 4 maindeck Ghost Quarters in Lands is a reasonable option now, and I got demolished by them at a FNM. I decided that Needles alone would be insufficient to hold off Wasteland + Ghost Quarter + Stage for long enough, so Surgical it was.

On to the matches:

Round 1: Esper Stoneblade
I thought this deck had pretty much gone extinct, but I was very happy to see 3 Esper lands not be followed by a Mentor. He never found Wasteland, only found 1 Force (spent on a TKS I think), and therefore lost both games. Ulamog wiped the floor with Tar Pit + Clique.

Round 2: Burn
I had built a burn deck on XMage the day before and played about 20 games against the deck with it, but didn't come up with much knowledge both new and actionable. In game 1 I kept a 7-card hand that would have been fine against a fair deck but was in no way equipped to beat burn. In comes the sideboard hate:

-3 Needle, -3 Wail, -1 Old Emrakul, -1 Tabernacle, -1 Bog, -1 Moment's Peace
+4 Leyline, +2 Trinisphere, +2 Sphere of Resistance, +2 Grip

I Leyline him in Game 2 which completely blanks his hand except for a Price which TKS takes, preventing much grief. I play Trinisphere, he plays 2 Ensnaring Bridges and Fireblasts the TKS, giving me time to Eye->Ulamog more Mountains -> Karakas Ulamog to take out the Bridges. A very satisfying thrashing. No sideboard changes.

I keep 7 cards with 2 Leylines in game 3, but this time they do not line up well against his hand. He plays a T2 Eidolon, and since my hand is full of cheap spells I float G from a forest and Chasm it away before casting Stirrings, which reveals a Cloudpost. The early chasm + Glimmerposts buys enough time for me to Ugin away 2 Sulfuric Vortices, and I pass the turn with Ugin at 1, him on no cards in hand, and me at 6 life about to rain Titans. Naturally he topdecks Price.

In the past I have been critical of Leyline against Burn, arguing that its being a dead draw is a serious drawback and that it compels you to keep awkward hands in a matchup that basically tests the quality of your draw. Obviously I have changed my mind somewhat, though it helps that my Leyline hands were pretty good beyond the Leyline. I still think that the ultimate plan should be Sphere + Ulamogging their lands to prevent Price while allowing you to attack for the win, but that is hard to consistently pull off. I'm not sure that 4 Leylines is the right number, as I would have preferred the second one to be any other card, but I have nowhere near enough testing yet to decide.

Also in the category of insufficient testing is the merit of Sphere of Resistance. I have a 2-2 split on Sphere effects because Resistance helps against Elves and Food Chain where 3Sphere does very little or is too slow, however Resistance also delays my top end which has been a real nuisance against Burn specifically. Since they don't need to cast all their spells in one turn a la Storm, adding an additional mana is much less obstructive and they can often cast 2 spells in a turn. However, delaying Primeval Titan by a turn can be a huge setback. I'm currently unsure what to do.

I regret not being able to Promised End him into burning himself. Note that this conflicts with the Sphere-Ulamog plan, as having a Sphere restricts how much you can hurt them.

Round 3: Lands
The same player whose Ghost Quarters defeated me at FNM. I had the maindeck Bog in my opening 7 in game one, managed to snipe the one Loam and his one Wasteland wasn't enough to stop Primeval Titan (fetching Vesuva for Bog) from taking over the game.

-1 Tabernacle, -2 TKS, -1 New Emrakul, -1 Chasm, -1 Ugin
+2 Grip, +3 Surgical, +1 Needle

I'm unsure whether Chasm is worth keeping in this matchup so I've been experimenting with taking it out. I kept in 1 Ugin to fight the expected Tireless Trackers. I keep 6 with Needle, Titan, and 4 Lands. He has Loam and sticks Chalice the turn after I needle Wasteland, but has no land destruction. He goes for an early kill but waits to make the token until my end step, before which I play my own stage to preempt his. The stage standoff buys time for me to deploy a Cloudpost, then EOT copy it with stage to enable Primeval Titan, which gains enough life to invalidate Marit Lage. Eye -> Ulamog on Marit Lage + Stage prompts a concession.

Not the best draws from the Lands player, and he seemed to think that Rest in Peace would be more troublesome out of my deck than Surgical. I am not so sure.

Round 4: D&T
This was a friend of mine, and we know what each other plays. I needle Wasteland in game 1 and he is unable to kill me before Ugin cleans up.

-1 Map, -1 Bog
+1 Needle, +1 Grip

I acquired my Tabernacle only recently and haven't quite decided when to board it out. I started cutting it against D&T since they are fully capable of winning with 1 creature + equipment, but decided to keep it in this time for experimentation purposes. In game 2 he has Flickerwisp for Needle + double Wasteland, which sets me too far behind to cast anything of consequence. Game 3 is very close with Moment's Peace buying critical turns against Crusader + SoFaI to set up Candelabra + lots of Cloudposts. I misplay here because I Map for Eye of Ugin with intention of searching up Emrakul, but forgot that a new Thalia was in play. I had foolishly used the Candelabra already to make all the mana at once, and had to hope to make it one more turn to play Eye and untap it. I manage to do so, and take the match.

Although it seems obvious, I think it is worth mentioning that new Thalia makes Candelabra considerably more important. I'm not sure the deck really needs another copy, but while I was on the fence about it before I am now sure it should stay.

Round 5: BURG Delver (Ben Friedman)
I derived an irrational satisfaction from playing against a big-name opponent, further amplified by his comment about not knowing how to sideboard against me. He spurned my advice to take out Wasteland. Clearly a real pro, to not fall for that! In game 1 he deploys Delvers on turns 1,2,3 with the first being blind-flipped, the second getting Wailed away, and the third flipping post-Ponder. A timely Decay takes out Needle, then Wasteland sets me too far from Titan to do anything but flounder.

-1 Bog, -1 Candelabra, -1 Stirrings
+2 Trinisphere, +1 Needle

I wasn't sure whether he was playing with Pyromancers, so I left in TKS as a blocker. Ordinarily I would have done -1 Bog +1 Needle but I have wanted to experiment with Trinisphere against Delver decks and this was an opportunity to try. I wasn't sure whether to cut the new Emrakul, but I cut Stirrings to leave myself the option of Promised End + Tabernacle in case of my opponent going wide. That may have been wrong.

Anyway, in game 2 I do resolve a Trinisphere but only after another T1 blind-flipped delver (off a spell pierce, no less, which delayed the Sphere considerably). I find no needle, he finds one Wasteland, and I die to the accursed Delver.

It is games like this that have had me acquiring the pieces for U/G Show and Tell builds over the past few months. I think I will switch to that for a while, the only question is whether it will be before or after EE5 and the SCG Baltimore Open in the coming months.

Round 6: D&T
I recognize this person as a local D&T expert and keep my opening 7 on the assumption that he's playing the same deck. Unfortunately I wind up one mana short of Ugin-ing away the board before I die to a very well-charged Jitte.

-1 Map, -1 Bog, -1 Tabernacle
+1 Needle, +2 Grip

I think this matchup is good enough that Tabernacle is worse than a Krosan Grip to blow up some random hate permanent, or just a pesky sword. In this second game I have to fight through a chain of Recruiters that find Flickerwisps, but since I have two needles on Wasteland the best he can do is to temporarily deprive me of some Cloudposts. A TKS forces an awkward use of Flickerwisp, and Warping Wail proves its worth by exiling the Flickerwisp force. Eventually Ugin resolves, and enough was said. No sideboarding changes.

I am on the draw now, and my opponent leads on Plains + Vial. I decide to wait on deploying my opening Needle and just play Forest + Top. When his second turn is Port + Vial, I decide to put the needle on Vial - forcing him to use the port for mana instead of disruption. He doesn't find a second white source until I've developed a commanding advantage, and although I have to dance around an active Wasteland he is unable to deploy serious pressure. Ugin + Ulamog on the same turn seals it.

Sometimes I can't believe that I used to fear this matchup.

Round 7 (final round): eldrazi
I haven't had enough experience playing against this deck, but I have seen enough to know that they play Chalice and can't consistently find Wastelands. In game one he Thought-Knots away my Thought-Knot, foolishly leaving my Moment's Peace in hand. Since I have shut down his Wastelands, that card buys the time I need for Primeval Titan to get Chasm + Eye, and from there The Aeons Torn tears through my opponent. The only opposition at this point was an Endbringer that could have stopped Emrakul from attacking indefinitely but my opponent did not activate it in response to my second Needle.

-1 Bog, -3 Wail
+3 Grip, +1 Needle

The plan is: kill Chalice, stop Wasteland, don't die, win. Unfortunately, my unfamiliarity with the matchup misdirects me away from #2 as a Turn 1 Leyline of the Void prompts me to put my Needle on Helm of Obedience instead of Wasteland. Since his only pressure is a couple of Mimics (and Chalice) and he has active Wastelands, I decide to play mana-lands instead of playing Chasm. Naturally a Reality Smasher comes off the top and I die. No sideboard changes.

Being on the play, I play T1 Top and T2 spin + Stirrings for Map before his T2 Chalice. His Thought-Knots see my hand full of lands and a Map, and though I am floating a Primeval Titan on top I do not find the sixth mana source on the critical turn. I lose ignominiously.

I think I was overly concerned about Helm, seeing as I could draw Grips to answer it but no other effective answer to Wasteland in view of the Chalice. This matchup and Burn both leave me really wanting to play Explore, though I think Moment's Peace is the better card outside of the Burn matchup.

Thoughts going forward
1) I was not that impressed by TKS, in contrast to earlier testing. I like having it as disruption against combo that doubles as a clock and is searchable via Eye, but a second Moment's Peace makes the combat matchups much easier and I was always happy to draw that card.
-1 TKS, +1 Moment's Peace

2) I never needed to cast Surgical Extraction, so the jury is still out on that card. I do not like this build's vulnerability to Chalice, and the fact that the recurring-Wasteland decks are moving to that card has me very concerned. If the situation continues, I might replace Stirrings with something else (Explore or GSZ, probably).

3) Delver is still hard. I've considered playing Maze of Ith, but the investment of one land drop does not seem to be repaid as well as I'd like. This would be a reason to run Explore, to lessen the impact of playing manaless lands.


Thanks for reading, and I welcome your thoughts.

[ESG]

I acquired my Tabernacle only recently and haven't quite decided when to board it out. I started cutting it against D&T since they are fully capable of winning with 1 creature + equipment, but decided to keep it in this time for experimentation purposes.
...
Ordinarily I would have done -1 Bog +1 Needle but I have wanted to experiment with Trinisphere against Delver decks and this was an opportunity to try.

It seems pretty risky to experiment in the middle of a Lotus tournament. That's what testing is for, isn't it? You ended up doing well, but with more testing, you might have notched another win, and that could have made all the difference.

Drop of Honey and Engineered Explosives are reasonable cards vs. Delver of Secrets. Since you are on Ancient Stirrings, you might like EE better. Your list looks pretty soft to Chalice of the Void preboard, so EE would also help there. Against Burn, I like Tree of Redemption, which also gets around Sulfuric Vortex, but it doesn't look like you're playing Green Sun's Zenith.

Eldrazi is not known for Helm of Obedience. I would never not name Wasteland in that matchup.

[k_omega]

It seems pretty risky to experiment in the middle of a Lotus tournament. That's what testing is for, isn't it? You ended up doing well, but with more testing, you might have notched another win, and that could have made all the difference.

Sure, I'd rather know for certain what the right decisions are in advance. On the other hand I'm not going to deprive myself of an opportunity to learn. In my view every match is testing for future matches, regardless of the setting in which the match occurs. Admittedly, it is quite clear that in the case of eldrazi specifically some foreknowledge would have had a tangible impact. Now I have that knowledge.

Drop of Honey and Engineered Explosives are reasonable cards vs. Delver of Secrets. Since you are on Ancient Stirrings, you might like EE better. Your list looks pretty soft to Chalice of the Void preboard, so EE would also help there. Against Burn, I like Tree of Redemption, which also gets around Sulfuric Vortex, but it doesn't look like you're playing Green Sun's Zenith.

I've been considering EE for these reasons, and thanks for suggesting Drop of Honey. Tree of Redemption doesn't actually get around Vortex, as the exchange is implemented as a gain or loss of the necessary amount of life.

Eldrazi is not known for Helm of Obedience. I would never not name Wasteland in that matchup.

I was surprised to see it as well, though it makes some sense from their perspective to be able to kill without the combat step if need be and they already play Leyline for Dredge anyway. I'm not sure I'd say it's a good idea on the balance for them, but it makes sense. I agree with you now that Wasteland is the absolute priority.

[Saab93]

Placed in the top four of CardKingdom's 1K tournament with Bant post. Same list I've previously posted.

R1: Junk Blade, win 2-0
Notes-
Game 1:
Lilliana gets rid of a Show and Tell'd Ulamog, but he is unable to deal with a follow up Show and Tell'd Emrakul.

Game 2:
Opponent enlighten tutors end of my turn 1 for Chains of Mephistopheles and plays it on his turn. Due to the composition of my hand it had no impact on the game. Green Sun's Zenith eventually grabs Primeval Titan, and Emrakul annihilates.

Sideboarding:
-4 Show and Tell
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage
+1 Engineered Explosives


R2: Omnishow w/ sneak attack, win 2-0
Notes-
Game 1:
Opponent Show and Tell's Omniscience without an actual win (wtf?). After the match he tells me he was hoping to draw into something with his follow up brainstorm. I put in Primeval Titan grabbing Karakas and a fetchland. Two attacks later the game is wrapped up after I exile his Omniscience and Sneak Attack with Ulamog.

Game 2:
Opponent casts Show and Tell, putting in Omniscience while I put in Primeval Titan. I respond to my Primeval Titan's trigger by Krosan Gripping his Omniscience. Gaddock Teeg meets a force of will, but Kozilek resolves drawing four cards.

Sideboarding:
-4 Show and Tell
-2 Terminus
-2 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Dryad Arbor
-1 Veteran Explorer

+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Swan Song
+1 Hydroblast
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Meddling Mage


R3: 4C Nic Fit, win 2-1
Notes-

Www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom

Pretty sure my notes for this match won't be as accurate as simply watching it on Twitch. So you should watch the recorded match.

Notable moments of the match though:
1.) Finding Krosan Grip for Ensnaring Bridge after Ulamog had already been countered.

2.) Finding Flusterstorm to counter his Bribery.

Sideboarding:
-4 Show and Tell
-1 Veteran Explorer
-1 Terminus
+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage


R4: Aluren, lose 0-2
Notes-
Awful match up and I have no idea how to improve it. Almost managed to tie the match 1-1 but the opponent got there. Thought-Knot Seer might help out in this match up.

Sideboarding:
-4 Show and Tell
-1 Veteran Explorer
-1 Dryad Arbor
-1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
-1 Terminus
-1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
-1 Green Sun's Zenith

+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage
+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Swan Song
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Meddling Mage


R5: Death & Taxes, win 2-0
Notes:
Game 1:
Opponent chooses not to tap my only cloudpost. I play a glimmerpost and cast Kozilek. I counter his Swords to Plowshares and Stoneforge Mystic.

Game 2:
Opponent overextends into Terminus. Green Sun's Zenith into Primeval Titan. I grab Ulamog instead of Emrakul because of double port. Exile his karakas and port. Think I managed to tutor up enough cloudposts to power out an Emrakul eventually.

-4 Show and Tell
-1 Veteran Explorer
-1 Dryad Arbor

+2 Flusterstorm
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage
+1 Engineered Explosives


R6: Intentionally Draw


Top 8: 4C Delver (Turbo Angler build), win 2-0
Notes-
Game 1:
Opponent dazes my divining top, spell pierces my sylvan library, and wastelands my Savannah. Show and Tell'd Emrakul can't be dealt with.

Game 2:
Actually had some trouble sideboarding, I didn't know what cards to cut so I just shaved some numbers. Brought in stuff to deal with Winter Orb since I lent it to him before the tournament started haha.

Swords to Plowshares on Deathrite and Gurmag Angler. Primeval Titan grabs Cloudpost and Eye of Ugin, which grabs Emrakul.

Sideboarding:
-4 Show and Tell
-1 Green Sun's Zenith
-1 Dryad Arbor
-1 Terminus
-1 ???

+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage
+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Engineered Explosives
+2 Rest In Peace


Top 4: Aluren, lose 0-2
Notes-
Game 1:
With great calculated risk, I cast a turn three Show and Tell, I put in Primeval Titan and opponent puts in Aluren. Opponent waits until turn four to combo off.

Game 2:
Opening hand had sideboard cards to disrupt the opponent but I had issues with color screw. In hindsight I should not have kept an opening hand with plains, vesuva, and divining top.

Sideboarding:
Similar as before, except I shaved down on Terminus to make room for a Hydroblast. You really know the match up is awful when you're digging deep into the dregs of your sideboard to hopefully counter one of his four red cards haha.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ESG]

Tree of Redemption doesn't actually get around Vortex, as the exchange is implemented as a gain or loss of the necessary amount of life.

Mmm, good call. I still like the card, but I wouldn't run it outside of a GSZ build.

Placed in the top four of CardKingdom's 1K tournament with Bant post. Same list I've previously posted.
R3: 4C Nic Fit, win 2-1
Notes-

Www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom

Pretty sure my notes for this match won't be as accurate as simply watching it on Twitch. So you should watch the recorded match.

Notable moments of the match though:
1.) Finding Krosan Grip for Ensnaring Bridge after Ulamog had already been countered.

2.) Finding Flusterstorm to counter his Bribery.

This was a pretty great match. I think for Aluren you probably should use Swan Song. The card is flexible enough that you could still board it in in other matchups, and you can't run four Krosan Grip vs. a Cabal Therapy deck.

[Saab93]

This was a pretty great match. I think for Aluren you probably should use Swan Song. The card is flexible enough that you could still board it in in other matchups, and you can't run four Krosan Grip vs. a Cabal Therapy deck.

Yeah I brought in Swan Song in both Aluren matches, just didn't see the card until game two of the second match. The Hydroblast can easily be replaced for a second Swan Song, which would certainly help. Ethersworn Canonist gave the opponent the most trouble since Bone Shredder cannot kill artifact creatures. I'm not sure I'd replace any of the other hatebears with a second copy, however, since I like how they all attack combo decks in different ways.

R4: Aluren, lose 0-2
Notes-
Awful match up and I have no idea how to improve it. Almost managed to tie the match 1-1 but the opponent got there. Thought-Knot Seer might help out in this match up.

Sideboarding:
-4 Show and Tell
-1 Veteran Explorer
-1 Dryad Arbor
-1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
-1 Terminus
-1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
-1 Green Sun's Zenith

+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Reclamation Sage
+2 Flusterstorm
+1 Swan Song
+1 Engineered Explosives
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Gaddock Teeg
+1 Meddling Mage

[TLK]

@Saab93 - I went back a few pages to see if I could find your Bant list, but no luck. Mind sharing it? Sounds pretty powerful and consistent. Luckily nobody plays Aluren in my area. :)

[Saab93]

@Saab93 - I went back a few pages to see if I could find your Bant list, but no luck. Mind sharing it? Sounds pretty powerful and consistent. Luckily nobody plays Aluren in my area. :)

Mainboard
Creatures [10]

1 Dryad Arbor
1 Veteran Explorer
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Instants [6]

2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm

Sorceries [12]

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Show and Tell
4 Terminus

Enchantments [1]

1 Sylvan Library

Artifacts [4]

4 Sensei's Divining Top

Lands [27]

1 Cavern of Souls
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Plains
1 Savannah
1 Tundra
1 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Tropical Island
2 Vesuva
3 Flooded Strand
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost

Sideboard

1 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Rest In Peace
2 Krosan Grip
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Meddling Mage
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Flusterstorm
1 Swan Song
1 Hydroblast
1 Engineered Explosives

[k_omega]

Placed in the top four of CardKingdom's 1K tournament with Bant post. Same list I've previously posted.

I see you boarded out all your Show and Tells in every matchup, even against delver which to me (admittedly a novice with S&T in this style of deck) seems like a strong motivation to play S&T. Not to sound dismissive, but when would you keep them in if ever?

[mykatdied]

Boarding out show and tell against dnt seems odd to me. Where they can restrict you on mana sources show and tell into primeval titan is probably one of the strongest plays against dnt. At least from my perspective as a dnt pilot.