You just have to target yourself :-)Originally Posted by RhoxWarMonk
Unmask states "target player's hand" so you can target yourself.
As an example of a few turns I had at the tournament:
Opening hand of (or something similar to) land, land, Griselbrand, Tidespout Tyrant, Unmask, Exhume, and Reanimate
Turn one: land -> Unmask (targeting myself and exiling Exhume) discarding Griselbrand -> Reanimate
Why not run both? I play Unmask main and Brutality in the sideboard and I'm very happy with it, because in most cases I just want the card as a flexible removal with upside against decks like Delver with Shaman, Elves, Miracles, Blade and other decks where I fear Shaman or Containment Priest. The thing is before boarding beeing fast is the most important thing and Unmask costs zero mana and Brutality 2. After boarding when sometimes grindig is more important Brutality becomes more powerful.
Usual cards to board out are some discard, some Simian Spirit Guides, maybe 1 Reanimationsspell (only if u run 12 or bring in Sneak/Stronghold Gambit), it's also okay to go down on 9 creatures. But like always everything belongs on the opponent deck.
The only thing about Unmasking yourself is to remember that your opponent gets to see your whole hand.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Ca...verseid=416757
Hi guys!!
Could anyone explain me how to use Stronghold Gambit? I think I might have an idea but to me I´ve always thought Sneak Attack is much better than SG
Anyways I love this deck and I feel I´m not gonna get tired of it ever
Thanks a lot !!
Oh that makes perfect sense, I just misunderstood the original post :)
The only drawback to that is having to show your opponent your hand, as was mentioned, but it's quite possible it'll be far too late to matter at that point.
In other news, I really enjoy this deck. Played a bunch of matches against Eldrazi and did quite well overall. LotV is a complete bitch though but it basically nearly forces them to mulligan for it, and then I just play sneak attack and go over top. They can still get the nut draws though and CotV is a very serious issue. Thinking of adding in some Ingot Chewers to my SB to get around that. Thoughts? Finding SB room isn't exactly easy though
EDIT: Watch out for Warping Wail
It lets you put a creature in vs decks that don't often have creatures without using the graveyard.
Hello all, first time poster here! I've been testing the deck online for about a week and I'm still trying to figure out the best configuration. I've tried both versions (Collective Brutality/Unmask), and still haven't been able to figure out if there's really a "best" one. I've found Unmask gives me a more consistent turn-1 fatty, but because it's very resource intensive (needs Unmask + black card which isn't your only fatty/reanimation spell) and massive card disadvantage, I've found it tends to fold a bit more to FoW (assuming no Chancellor in the opener obviously). Has anyone tested both versions extensively? Unfortunately almost all the information I've found (I've read this whole thread and scoured Reddit, among other things) is from people who've played only 1 version, and obviously their view is that their version is better (since otherwise they'd just switch, given that it isn't a huge financial hit).
My other problem is the sideboard. I've noticed in this thread as well that the jury still seems to be out on going W splash, G splash or no splash/Sneak Attack/Blood Moon plan. A quick summary of my thought process on the matter:
- As other have pointed out, against decks packing (or potentially packing) hate in the form of artifact AND enchantments, Wear//Tear seems like a clear winner, rather than siding in 3-4 copies of two different cards (which also runs the risk of opening RevSilence vs. Chalice or Decay vs. Leyline). This pushes me towards the W splash.
- However, against decks that run hate that ISN'T Leyline, Abrupt Decay seems so much better, being that a) it can't be countered and more importantly b) it hits creatures, which Wear//Tear does not. If running the white splash, is Collective Brutality sufficient to deal with Containment Priest/Deathrite Shaman?
- Most confusing of all (to me) is the Sneak Attack plan. My problem here is two-fold. First, as others have said, I'm unsure what to trim to bring Sneak in. Second, I fear it makes the deck lose focus. When I've got both reanimation spells and Sneak Attack in the deck, what's my plan? For example: my opener contains a fatty, sneak attack, faithless looting and some mana (but not enough to cast SA on turn 1 or 2, otherwise there's obviously no debate). Do I bin the fatty with the Looting, hoping to draw into a reanimation spell, or do I hold it until I find the mana to Sneak it in?
Right now I'm leaning towards playing the Unmask build, W splash, with 3 Collective Brutality in the sideboard. My logic being that in the worst case scenario where I expect to play against two types of hate that can't be hit by the same card, my plan is much more intact if I board in Wear//Tear and Brutality than when I bring in RevSilence and Decay, since at least Brutality isn't purely reactive and actually helps to further plan A.
I'd love to hear some thoughts from those with more experience with the deck, assuming you made it through my (hopefully somewhat coherent) rambling. :)
Same as Thoughtseize. But if you bin and reanimate before they even get a land down...
That's my plan for paper. Unmask is silly expensive online right now.
Collective Brutality is definitely the way to go, I find it to be far superior to Unmask and I am always happy to see the card. It's a maindeck answer to hatebears/DRS, pitches your fatty while taking the counterspell at the same time. With Dark ritual, it can be just as explosive turn 1, though, usually not.
Unmask really isn't a great card, I see it more of as a fad. The card loss is extreme, you never really want to be using it on yourself, and its terrible after turn 3. I've been playing the deck grinding Competative Legacy Leagues, and the amount of games that go midrange and grindy is pretty significant, where collective brutality is great, it can instantly turn the game around. BUG, Miracles, Delver, D&T, etc can have a hatebear out, counterspell in hand, and then tap out and play aggressively, where a Collective Brutality just blows them out.
As for splash, G is the most optimal choice in the current MTGO meta.
Cheers.
Tried this deck out in an MTGO league last night and had great results.
Lost my last match in the mirror, however. I'm curious how you guys would handle this situation...
Turn 2 and I have churned through a decent amount of my deck with turn one Fairhless and turn two flash back. Found fatties but no Reanimation spell. Opponent goes land pass. He has nothing of any consequence in his GY but had like 5 cards in hand.
My hand is Entomb, Griselbrand, 2x Chancellor. I have 2 Badlands in play.
I decided to cast Entomb at the end of his turn because I figure thats the only way I can reanimate something on my turn.
Options for Entomb: Griselbrand, Chancellor, Sire, Iona, Blazing Archon
I decide to go with Archon since it would hurt the least if I brick on reanimation spell and he steals my guy on the next turn. I then rip the Reanimate on my draw and go for it.
On his turn he Entombs Iona and Reanimates it naming black, locking me out of the game.
Should I have tried to Entomb my own Iona instead of the Archon or would I have been better off just sitting and waiting without playing that EOT Entomb?
I originally played reanimator with Sutured Ghoul and Dragon Breath.
Thinking about picking this up, but it definitely seems like flavor of the month. Chancellor of the Annex is already going up a little bit every day.
If more people start playing this deck, what sideboard strategies can they employ to blow this deck out? Outside of Leyline of the Void and Faerie Macabre, it seems difficult to combat as Deathrite, RiP, Ooze, etc seem too slow. Even Relic or Crypt are too slow on the draw.
Appreciate feedback on this.
Also, I hate foils. Are we going to see non-foil versions of this decks' staples spike harder than FTV?
"I made a Redguard that looks like Kimbo Slice. He wrecks peoples' shit. And dragons." - Bignasty197
I played this deck yesterday and although it was kind of ok, 2-0 Grixis Delver, 2-0 Miracles, 2-0 Dredge, 0-2 4c Delver, I got bored with this deck's playstyle. There is so little one can do. Well, but I played the 4 Chancellor, 4 Griselbrand, 1 Children of Korlis, 1 Tendrils of Agony version with 2 Thoughtseize, 2 CBrutality, and 4 SSG. I am pretty sure that this version is better than the Sire/Iona/Tyrant stuff because of various reasons but primarily not using the combat step is a huge upside. Additionally, drawing cards and winning on the same turn is so much better than reanimating Tyrants and Sires. Recently I saw some miserable plays in a 6round paper tournament by a BR player (I was on ANT) next to my table... him losing to Burn because he exhumed Chancellor instead of Griselbrand; hilarious moment. Only other creature I'd play is Elesh in the SB. Good luck with the deck guys.
WantToPonder
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Team MTG Berlin
The Dragonstorm
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Interesting, thanks for your reply. I only play in paper however, I don't know if that should make a big difference in which splash is better. Care to share your sideboard? Most importantly, how do you SB in match-ups where you need to bring in both Abrupt Decay and Reverent Silence (is Eldrazi the only one?) With so many cards to bring in, I just don't know what to take out of the deck without making it too inconsistent.
What about Nature's Claim instead of Wear/Tear or Reverent Silence? It's cheaper than Wear, it's green so can be played in the side along with Abrupt Decay, and can be cast of a Petal (whereas RSilence in freemode cannot). The life your opponent gets probably buys him an additional turn, that's definitely a disadvantage, but RSilence does that too.
EDIT: Wear//Tear is better though versus decks with Leyline and Chalice (Eldrazi, 4C-loam).
It is better against chalice on its own as well because most opponents will set CotV to one...
I've been doing well with this deck recently. Im using the Legacy Champs Paris build. In the primer it says to go for Griselbrand most of the time as the first creature but I've been having more success with reanimating Sire as my first. Anyone else experiencing the same?
It's not necessarily a bad play to go for the sire straight on, but it's open to be removed with the trigger on the stack by any deck that can rebuild faster than you (like delver or elves or blue decks) so both players are now on top deck mode only you have to re-assemble the combo without access to brainstorms and ponders (aka library manipulation/draw filtering). Going for brand almost always guarantees you'll be able to draw seven and pressure the opponent to have an answer every turn.
If you know what they are playing, however, and it's not a fast rebuilder, SoI can be a very strong T1 play.
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