I've liked running one void snare over echoing truth because it can clean up a chalice for 2
That is a point I had not considered - chalice for 2 locks us really badly without a shatter effect to pop it, and not being able to use echoing truth to do that is relevant for gifts piles.
I'm liking the blessing but do you guys play fewer reducers because of them?
I play 7 reducers and it hasn't had a major negative impact, at least not yet. Usually that's enough.
Also today I decided to sleeve up Burn for fun (and to throw off people who only know me as "that storm guy") and ended up being on the opposite side of the Burn/Storm match. Here's what I can give insofar as insight into what the burn player wants to do.
--any hand with 2 land and eidolon is a snap keep. If they have the counterspell or kill spell, they have it. If not the game's pretty much over. This is against Burn's normal playstyle (where you want to play eidolon as the last card in hand and use the time the opponent spends playing around it to reload your grip)
--We want to be able to kill a reducer as soon as we get priority. So often you don't want to play your reducer unless you have 2 mana open (1 for the starting ritual, and 1 more to actually combo in response to the kill spell.) You will not get a better opportunity to combo than when a burn player is tapped out, so if you have enough mana and cards for reducer -> spell (response bolt, response combo pieces) into a second reducer, that will normally get there.
--If you have a counterspell (or Apostle's Blessing) for a kill spell on a reducer, run through as much of the combo as you can with the kill spell on the stack - we're often not going to try interrupting with a second kill spell, and it should enable you to set up a clean kill on the turn after you counter.
--NEVER block a goblin guide or a monastery Swiftspear with a reducer, unless the burn player is tapped out, or unless not blockuing means you lose.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
I'm liking the blessing but do you guys play fewer reducers because of them?
Yes 7 reducers - otherwise standard build w8th flex slots being 2 apostles, 2 remand, 2 peer. Am thinking of trying 3 remand 1 peer or trying a noxious revival.
I'm trying to figure out what the 2 blessing are slotted over on my list because I alsobplay 7 reducers
What's your list? I assume you are running 4 remands and 3 grapeshot's? I cut my etw and a grapeshot, I am running 3 remands, a peer, 2 grapeshot and a revival, it may seem.clunkly but I am loving all of it especially against the sheer about of rock style/Death shadow I am seeing. At least pre board.
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P.S im sorry that this "wall" of text is very scary and menacing but i believe you can do it the lack of gramer and punctuation is because i have a blood fued with it due to the fact when i was four and the teacher said i would die poor and lonely and the kids would dance on my grave when i died because i could not correctly punctuate with commas
@Billiondegree
I think for sure you can cut an electromancer, As for the other one, either a grapeshot or a peer seems fine, what are you mainly expecting to face? Or is your meta pretty diverse? You are only running 2 remands have you been happy for them or do you just mainly remand your grapeshot? One thing that i would be a little wary to cut a peer is it helps find sideboard cards and is nuts with blessing.
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P.S im sorry that this "wall" of text is very scary and menacing but i believe you can do it the lack of gramer and punctuation is because i have a blood fued with it due to the fact when i was four and the teacher said i would die poor and lonely and the kids would dance on my grave when i died because i could not correctly punctuate with commas
@Billiondegree
I think for sure you can cut an electromancer, As for the other one, either a grapeshot or a peer seems fine, what are you mainly expecting to face? Or is your meta pretty diverse? You are only running 2 remands have you been happy for them or do you just mainly remand your grapeshot? One thing that i would be a little wary to cut a peer is it helps find sideboard cards and is nuts with blessing.
The meta I am expecting is for SCG Modern Open, so the best of the best decks will be there. Affinity, burn, Eldrazi Tron, Dredge, Abzan, Grixis Shadow, Death and Taxes, Valakut, and who knows what else
I just came from a PPTQ with 113 players, I am from Brazil and my English is not the best, so forgive the errors or concordances
I got a Top 8, and I'm happy with the deck
I lost the first match of the Top 8 to a Grixis Control, theoretically a good game, so much that I believe that my decisions in the course of the game led to defeat, well let's go the list:
First of all, honorable mention of the noxious revival in the MD, often bringing in the end of the opponent's turn before my purchase a missing piece in the combo, and also to the sideboard MVP Pieces of The Puzzle, he gives the necessary "gas" Most of the time finding many immediate answers.
Match 1
Esper Goryos Vengeance
2 - 0
Game 1 he made me 5 discards! But as I said, a well-fitting noxious brought me a Piretyc Ritual back to hand and I won
Game 2, he made me Lost Legacy turn 3 and took me out of the PiFs, maybe it was not the best choice, because on the back turn with an electromancer on the table, I got a grapeshot for 6 and 14 goblins tokens, and on the back He conceded.
Side In + 1 Empty, + 2 Pieces, + 1 echoing
Side Out - 2 Apostle's, - 2 Thought
Match 2
Counter's Company
2 - 1
Game 1 he did not have much to do, in turn 3 I did Goblin, ritual, ritual, manamorphose, gifts
Game 2 he caught me with the eidolon, I mull the initial hand with 2 path, but without fetchland, before the mull I could see a flooded two draws just ... ok
Unfortunately in this game the pieces of the puzzle found neither path or echoing
Game 3 I opened well, 1 path, 1 swan song, fetchs and cantrip ... turn 3 he tried a collected, and was tapped just to receive the swan song, turn 4 I won.
Side in + 3 path, + 1 swan, + 2 pieces, + 1 echoing
Side out - 2 thought, - 2 apostles, - 1 gifts, - 2 sleight.
Match 3
Blue Steel
2 - 1
Game 1 I managed to do baral, ritual, ritual, past, I still had good cantrips in the graveyard and lots of mana in the pool
Game 2 a grafdigger's cage well fitted with a fast clock and I could not
Game 3 he added another grafdigger's cage, on the back turn I made grapeshot to clear the table and buy time, and bingoo, I found a pieces that found an echoing, removed the grafdigger's cage at the end of his turn, and the next turn I won.
Side in + 1 shattering, + 1 echoing, + 2 pieces
Side out - 1gifts, - 1 noxious, - 2 apostle's
Match 4
Grixis DS
0 - 2
Game 1 well what do you talk here? This match is a mess for us, and game 1 he did what he has to do, 4 discards and a fast DS clock
Game 2 I opened a good hand, without leyline and .... I risked, poor idea, I took 5 discards, 1 surgical, plus 1 fatal push in my Baral and 1 sttuborn in pieces at the time that maybe I had some chance .. ..
Side in + 4 leyline, + 2 pieces, + 3 path, + 1 empty
Side out - 2 remand, - 2 thought scour, - 2 gifts, - 2 sleight, - 2 apostle's
Match 5
RG Ponza
2 - 0
Game 1 I keep a hand not so good, 3 lands, 1 goblin, 1 ritual, 1 gifts, well without interaction would have a combo turn 3 or 4 ... and had no interaction, actually a magus of the moon on turn 3 Of my opponent, helped to generate a red mana to win turn 4
Game 2 He interacted with my lands, destroyed 3 and removed a goblin, luckily he did not want to destroy the island only the duals, and when I put baral with two lands, and the other time I bought the third land I simply went to the classic, Ritual, manamorphose and gifts.
Side In + 1 echoing, + 1 shattering, + 1 empty
Side Out - 1 thought, - 2 apostles's
Match 6
Counter's Company
2 - 1
Game 1 I combo one turn before, for Baral, gifts on the pass, and won on turn 4
Game 2 he interacted well, with Ooze to remove creatures from my graveyard and make my noxious unfeasible, even then at one point I went to Baral and would win, but a Chord for 2 brought the damn Eidolon, well again I could not Find a path or echoing and his clock broke me.
Game 3 he tapped 3 turn for a finks, and I got a Baral with 4 lands, ritual, ritual and Gifts.
Side in and Side out identical to another match.
Match 7
Grixis DS
2 - 1
I needed to win this match to be in the top 8, and to see a Grixis DS in front of me did not cheer me up very much
Play 1 he mull to 6, I keep a hand with 2 lands, 1 Baral, 2 rituals, 1 empty, 1 sleight, he starts and only interacts turn 2 with a discard and removes the Baral and puts the first DS in the field, my I do ritual, ritual, empty for 6 tokens, secure a DS on his turn and he does another, I hit 4 tokens and I get one standing, he attacks with both DSs I let go, I attack with 5 Tokens he hits a fatal push in 1, and he gets 4 life, all I wanted ... I did serum, thought and with his fatal counting 3 spells a grapeshot ends the game.
Game 2 I open leyline, he can not put pressure, but I force 2 Baral and 1 goblin to receive removal after a ritual and make a Pif only for two cantrips, no longer rituals in the grave ... he comes back and I lose
Game 3 I keep a hand with leyline, and he ... well he too, with a leyline of the void ... I do not discourage him do a DS I shoot with Path and it takes long enough to come back with some pressure but it is To 11 life, I together everything I need and with 5 lands standing, I do Baral, ritual, he Fatal, I ritual, he Snap and target in a sttuborn but does not use yet, I do manamorphose, everything solves and I have 6 In the pool, I try a pieces and it cancels with sttuborn, they are 8 in the pile, enough for 2 grapeshots to close the game ... and I explode in happiness kkk
Side in and Side out identical to another match.
Top 8 vs Grixis Control
I cheer up, this is a good match
Game 1 after many draw go, I need to discard a hand card in the cleaning phase and discards a Pif, to get 4 rituals, 1 grapeshot, 1 gifts and 1 manamorphose ... Poor choice ... it makes titan black and Pass, I make gifts in the pass and I do not choose another Pif, just remand, ritual, ritual and manamorphose, another pessima choice .... on my turn I do all the magic, he's with 4 lands standing, I imagine a snap to Recapitular something and I do the PiF of the grave ... he remand, I respond with the remand, but of course it is not enough ... he remand again and exile my PiF ... I make cantrips with what is left of mana that was Much, but without success, on the turn it closes the game 1
Game 2 the same follows, much draw go, I feel confidence and I do Baral and I have another one in the hand, in his shift he makes thoughtseize, takes the Baral, and does Fatal in the one that is in the table, I spend my Remand ... Poor choice. At some point I need to try or lose it on the back ... I solve the rituals and the manamorphose in the hardcast, when I go to PiF he does Cryptic Command, I answer with Remand, but he has dispel ... and I get 4 manas in the pool With nothing to do ... in this game I had access to 2 remand and 1 dispel, and I wasted
I understand now that counter-magic in games against Controls, are only for those of my opponent, we will often have to go in the arm without reducers, and the counters help at this moment ....
Side In + 1 swan, + 2 dispel, + 1 empty, + 2 pieces
Side Out - 2 apostles. - 1 Gifts, - 2 thought, - 1 sleight
Good PPTQ finalized, even having lost to myself, I feel happy, I returned to play about two years, and was the first really important tournament with Gifts Storm, now is to improve and leave for the GP.
I do not know if I will continue with 2 apostles and 2 Thought Scour MD ... they were not so useful ...
Leyline saved me in the game against the DS as well as the Paths, and can help against Burn, I'll probably keep them ... but I do not know what to upload to the MD ... if they have opnions I'll accept please kkk
Props to you, I also won a PPTQ this weekend! I had a similar list, mainboard empty but it was terrible and 3 PIF instead of scroll. I went 6-1-1
My sideboard:
-2 Bloodmoom
-2 Leyline
-1 Pieces of the puzzle
-3 Lightning bolt
-1 pyroclasm
-1 dismember
-1 empty
-2 shattering spree
-1 echoing truth
-1 stuffy doll
I was meda gaming for burn which was very popular in the tournament. The stuffy doll was a gag joke but is actually extremely powerful in the grixis matchup
Empty warrens main and side helped me 2-0 this matchup
UWx control
+2 bloodmoom +1 empty +1 echoing truth +1 pieces of the puzzle -2 gifts -1 electromancer -1 Grapeshot -1 PIF
Played this matchup twice, bloodmoom was an instant kill several times, main reason it is still in my sideboard
Merfolk
+3 lightning bolt +1 pyroclasm +1 pieces of the puzzle
-1 pyretic ritual -3 remand -1 sleight of hand
An easy matchup, didn't bring in 2nd empty cause they can win with islandwalk
BW Eldrazi
- I drew for this match, glad I did because they wreck your hand
Lantern control
+2 bloodmoon +1 empty the warrens +2 leyline +1 stuffy doll +1 pieces of the puzzle +1 echoing truth +2 shattering spree
-2 gifts ungiven -2 serum visions -1 grapeshot -1 PIF -3 remand -1 pyretic ritual -1 desperate ritual
Lots of storm players think that this is a good matchup but this is not true, they have hand disruption, mainboard surgicals, usually 4 sideboard leylines, and answers to all your cards. You win the majority of the games by beating down with mana reducers while they work to stop you from comboing. I won on halarious dumb luck, he had a full lock on me including leyline, then I slieght of handed into stuffy doll, proceeded to combo off and grape short stuffy doll for lethal, made me so happy that it won me a game!
I like your list and the majority of your decisions, one suggestion I have is you seem to take out remand in some matchups where it can be very powerful, like GBx I would take remand over lightning bolt anyday as it is a much better answer to lily, it is also good in the mirror, anything to slow your opponent, and it is good against burn as it can delay an eidelon which is usually the difference in the matchup
Good job, Grixis is a hard matchup, I don't like apostles blessing, it's best matchup is grixis shadow and it's still usually worse then remand and you brought it out basically every matchup, altho I think it should have stayed in against grixis. But ten you get 2 for ones by hand disruption
I remove the apostles because it is very difficult to get as many slots on a deck as a storm, where you do not want to lose spaces in the combo, this part of the side in and side out is perhaps one of the most complicated.
Congratz GuuiSilvaa!
I could't play this weekend but I had the opportunity to see your top 8 game and I saw the same mistakes you pointed in your report.
I am building some stuff for GP São Paulo and would love to keep this conversation (in portuguese hehe).
Landed my first 4-0 last night! Don't have time to post my full write up now but I'll just edit this post when I get home from work to include my full list and sideboarding decisions. I'm also ordering the cards I need to fix my sideboard, as I would have been much better off last night with a proper sideboard and not the outdated garbage I'm running right now.
Round 1: UB Faeries 2-1
Game 1 I stormed off and killed him on turn 3 after landing a turn 2 Baral. He was mana screwed that game so there wasn't much he could do to actually stop me. Game 2 he lands a turn 1 Cage, and I spend the rest of the game trying to find a reducer while getting smacked by various 1/1 faeries. Game 3 I went for a turn 3 Empty after he surgical extractioned my Pyretic Rituals and won on the back of 14 Goblin tokens.
Round 2: Eldrazi Tron 2-1
Last time I played this guy he was on a strange mono blue brew, which was what I was expecting. I was not expecting a turn 1 tron land followed by a mainboard Relic of Progenitus. He failed to find another land even after saccing the relic, so game 1 was easy. Game two he landed a Chalice on 2, and with my sideboard there was no way I was getting out of that. Ah well, such is life. Game 3 he lands a turn 1 cage, then surgical extracts my Echoing Truths. I spent a few turns in the tank trying to figure out how I could steal the win, and wound up storming off to the point where I could Grapeshot-Remand-Grapeshot for the win.
Round 3: Esper Goryo Gifts 2-0
Wasn't sure what to expect here, to be honest. I'm building the non-gifts version of the deck at the moment, which has much more hand disruption than his version. I was expecting alot of that, but saw only a few hand-disruption spells both games. Not much exciting happened here--I went with the 'wait to play a reducer until he's tapped out' plan both games, which paid off nicely. Was a bit scared he'd Gifts for Rites and Iona but I never saw a single Gifts either game. He did land a turn 2 Ghost Council game 2, but the life gain wasn't enough to save him.
Round 4: Eldrazi and Taxes 2-1
I pretty much went into this round resigned to a loss. I knew what the guy was playing, and I always have trouble with this deck. Game 1 goes as expected. Turn 2 Thalia, Eldrazi to the face. Owch. Game 2 I land a turn 3 Blood Moon, we both have a few turns of draw-land-pass, and then I go off with Empty the Warrens at 10 and kill him with an army of Gobbos. Game 3 I land another turn 3 Blood Moon, and he misplayed by not destroying one of his own lands with a Ghost Quarter to get a plains. We play draw-land-go for a few turns, before going off sans-reducer and casting Empty the Warrens for 7.
Overall I was super happy with last night. I've got plenty of 3-1 finishes in the past, but getting that elusive 4-0 has been a goal of mine for awhile with Storm. Going to update the post later tonight with my list and sideboarding decisions, but I figured I'd at least get my thoughts down while it was still fairly fresh in my mind.
I'm deciding between taking storm or dredge to the Open in Syracuse. Thoughts on which is better positioned right now? I mean, both are hit hard by grave hate but storm can at least win around it.
Dredge is better positioned vs Grixis Shadow I believe because of how ineffective discard and single creature removal is against it
I'm deciding between taking storm or dredge to the Open in Syracuse. Thoughts on which is better positioned right now? I mean, both are hit hard by grave hate but storm can at least win around it.
Dredge is better positioned vs Grixis Shadow I believe because of how ineffective discard and single creature removal is against it
Grixis DS is on a solid downswing (which is good news!). Right now I'd play whatever races better as Affinity is top dog.
I'm deciding between taking storm or dredge to the Open in Syracuse. Thoughts on which is better positioned right now? I mean, both are hit hard by grave hate but storm can at least win around it.
Dredge is better positioned vs Grixis Shadow I believe because of how ineffective discard and single creature removal is against it
Grixis DS is on a solid downswing (which is good news!). Right now I'd play whatever races better as Affinity is top dog.
Corollary to this, I watched one of the local grinders (who plays dredge) testing against Affinity because in his words "It's a terrible matchup and if I can steal one match out of three that will be great". So if you expect a bunch of robots to show up, play storm.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
I'm deciding between taking storm or dredge to the Open in Syracuse. Thoughts on which is better positioned right now? I mean, both are hit hard by grave hate but storm can at least win around it.
Dredge is better positioned vs Grixis Shadow I believe because of how ineffective discard and single creature removal is against it
Hey, I am also going to be going to the open in Syracuse and had to choose a deck. My options were, junk, grixis shadow, burn, vizier combo, Kiki chord, white hatebears, grixis control, UW control, blue moon, infect, and eldrazi. So just about every deck except dredge, I will be playing storm because of a recent experience at a PPTQ, everyone was finding ways to defeat deaths shadow which allows a deck like storm that isn't expected sweep the meda. I think all of the GDS spikes will be taken out early and you'll be facing more decks like affinity, therefor storm will do better in the later rounds. If you are a skilled player you can maximize your game play with storm, whereas dredge is mostly a deck of memory and triggers. If you choose storm let's chat about a good list for the weekend
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That is a point I had not considered - chalice for 2 locks us really badly without a shatter effect to pop it, and not being able to use echoing truth to do that is relevant for gifts piles.
I play 7 reducers and it hasn't had a major negative impact, at least not yet. Usually that's enough.
Also today I decided to sleeve up Burn for fun (and to throw off people who only know me as "that storm guy") and ended up being on the opposite side of the Burn/Storm match. Here's what I can give insofar as insight into what the burn player wants to do.
--any hand with 2 land and eidolon is a snap keep. If they have the counterspell or kill spell, they have it. If not the game's pretty much over. This is against Burn's normal playstyle (where you want to play eidolon as the last card in hand and use the time the opponent spends playing around it to reload your grip)
--We want to be able to kill a reducer as soon as we get priority. So often you don't want to play your reducer unless you have 2 mana open (1 for the starting ritual, and 1 more to actually combo in response to the kill spell.) You will not get a better opportunity to combo than when a burn player is tapped out, so if you have enough mana and cards for reducer -> spell (response bolt, response combo pieces) into a second reducer, that will normally get there.
--If you have a counterspell (or Apostle's Blessing) for a kill spell on a reducer, run through as much of the combo as you can with the kill spell on the stack - we're often not going to try interrupting with a second kill spell, and it should enable you to set up a clean kill on the turn after you counter.
--NEVER block a goblin guide or a monastery Swiftspear with a reducer, unless the burn player is tapped out, or unless not blockuing means you lose.
Currently Playing:
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RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
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Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Yes 7 reducers - otherwise standard build w8th flex slots being 2 apostles, 2 remand, 2 peer. Am thinking of trying 3 remand 1 peer or trying a noxious revival.
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What's your list? I assume you are running 4 remands and 3 grapeshot's? I cut my etw and a grapeshot, I am running 3 remands, a peer, 2 grapeshot and a revival, it may seem.clunkly but I am loving all of it especially against the sheer about of rock style/Death shadow I am seeing. At least pre board.
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Gifts Ungiven
3 Grapeshot
2 Past in Flames
2 Remand
2 Peer through Depths
1 Noxious Revival
3 Steam Vents
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Mountain
2 Shatterstorm
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Dismember
2 Dispel
2 Echoing Truth
2 Pyroclasm
Would anything be worth removing to add in the 2x Apostle's Blessing?
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I think for sure you can cut an electromancer, As for the other one, either a grapeshot or a peer seems fine, what are you mainly expecting to face? Or is your meta pretty diverse? You are only running 2 remands have you been happy for them or do you just mainly remand your grapeshot? One thing that i would be a little wary to cut a peer is it helps find sideboard cards and is nuts with blessing.
The meta I am expecting is for SCG Modern Open, so the best of the best decks will be there. Affinity, burn, Eldrazi Tron, Dredge, Abzan, Grixis Shadow, Death and Taxes, Valakut, and who knows what else
I got a Top 8, and I'm happy with the deck
I lost the first match of the Top 8 to a Grixis Control, theoretically a good game, so much that I believe that my decisions in the course of the game led to defeat, well let's go the list:
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Spirebluff Canal
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 Goblin Electromancer
2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Noxious Revival
2 Thought Scour
2 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Piretyc Ritual
2 Past in Flames
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Remand
Side
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Shattering Spree
1 Echoing Truth
2 Pieces of the Puzzle
1 Swan Song
2 Dispel
3 Path to Exile
4 Leyline of Sanctity
First of all, honorable mention of the noxious revival in the MD, often bringing in the end of the opponent's turn before my purchase a missing piece in the combo, and also to the sideboard MVP Pieces of The Puzzle, he gives the necessary "gas" Most of the time finding many immediate answers.
Match 1
Esper Goryos Vengeance
2 - 0
Game 1 he made me 5 discards! But as I said, a well-fitting noxious brought me a Piretyc Ritual back to hand and I won
Game 2, he made me Lost Legacy turn 3 and took me out of the PiFs, maybe it was not the best choice, because on the back turn with an electromancer on the table, I got a grapeshot for 6 and 14 goblins tokens, and on the back He conceded.
Side In + 1 Empty, + 2 Pieces, + 1 echoing
Side Out - 2 Apostle's, - 2 Thought
Match 2
Counter's Company
2 - 1
Game 1 he did not have much to do, in turn 3 I did Goblin, ritual, ritual, manamorphose, gifts
Game 2 he caught me with the eidolon, I mull the initial hand with 2 path, but without fetchland, before the mull I could see a flooded two draws just ... ok
Unfortunately in this game the pieces of the puzzle found neither path or echoing
Game 3 I opened well, 1 path, 1 swan song, fetchs and cantrip ... turn 3 he tried a collected, and was tapped just to receive the swan song, turn 4 I won.
Side in + 3 path, + 1 swan, + 2 pieces, + 1 echoing
Side out - 2 thought, - 2 apostles, - 1 gifts, - 2 sleight.
Match 3
Blue Steel
2 - 1
Game 1 I managed to do baral, ritual, ritual, past, I still had good cantrips in the graveyard and lots of mana in the pool
Game 2 a grafdigger's cage well fitted with a fast clock and I could not
Game 3 he added another grafdigger's cage, on the back turn I made grapeshot to clear the table and buy time, and bingoo, I found a pieces that found an echoing, removed the grafdigger's cage at the end of his turn, and the next turn I won.
Side in + 1 shattering, + 1 echoing, + 2 pieces
Side out - 1gifts, - 1 noxious, - 2 apostle's
Match 4
Grixis DS
0 - 2
Game 1 well what do you talk here? This match is a mess for us, and game 1 he did what he has to do, 4 discards and a fast DS clock
Game 2 I opened a good hand, without leyline and .... I risked, poor idea, I took 5 discards, 1 surgical, plus 1 fatal push in my Baral and 1 sttuborn in pieces at the time that maybe I had some chance .. ..
Side in + 4 leyline, + 2 pieces, + 3 path, + 1 empty
Side out - 2 remand, - 2 thought scour, - 2 gifts, - 2 sleight, - 2 apostle's
Match 5
RG Ponza
2 - 0
Game 1 I keep a hand not so good, 3 lands, 1 goblin, 1 ritual, 1 gifts, well without interaction would have a combo turn 3 or 4 ... and had no interaction, actually a magus of the moon on turn 3 Of my opponent, helped to generate a red mana to win turn 4
Game 2 He interacted with my lands, destroyed 3 and removed a goblin, luckily he did not want to destroy the island only the duals, and when I put baral with two lands, and the other time I bought the third land I simply went to the classic, Ritual, manamorphose and gifts.
Side In + 1 echoing, + 1 shattering, + 1 empty
Side Out - 1 thought, - 2 apostles's
Match 6
Counter's Company
2 - 1
Game 1 I combo one turn before, for Baral, gifts on the pass, and won on turn 4
Game 2 he interacted well, with Ooze to remove creatures from my graveyard and make my noxious unfeasible, even then at one point I went to Baral and would win, but a Chord for 2 brought the damn Eidolon, well again I could not Find a path or echoing and his clock broke me.
Game 3 he tapped 3 turn for a finks, and I got a Baral with 4 lands, ritual, ritual and Gifts.
Side in and Side out identical to another match.
Match 7
Grixis DS
2 - 1
I needed to win this match to be in the top 8, and to see a Grixis DS in front of me did not cheer me up very much
Play 1 he mull to 6, I keep a hand with 2 lands, 1 Baral, 2 rituals, 1 empty, 1 sleight, he starts and only interacts turn 2 with a discard and removes the Baral and puts the first DS in the field, my I do ritual, ritual, empty for 6 tokens, secure a DS on his turn and he does another, I hit 4 tokens and I get one standing, he attacks with both DSs I let go, I attack with 5 Tokens he hits a fatal push in 1, and he gets 4 life, all I wanted ... I did serum, thought and with his fatal counting 3 spells a grapeshot ends the game.
Game 2 I open leyline, he can not put pressure, but I force 2 Baral and 1 goblin to receive removal after a ritual and make a Pif only for two cantrips, no longer rituals in the grave ... he comes back and I lose
Game 3 I keep a hand with leyline, and he ... well he too, with a leyline of the void ... I do not discourage him do a DS I shoot with Path and it takes long enough to come back with some pressure but it is To 11 life, I together everything I need and with 5 lands standing, I do Baral, ritual, he Fatal, I ritual, he Snap and target in a sttuborn but does not use yet, I do manamorphose, everything solves and I have 6 In the pool, I try a pieces and it cancels with sttuborn, they are 8 in the pile, enough for 2 grapeshots to close the game ... and I explode in happiness kkk
Side in and Side out identical to another match.
Top 8 vs Grixis Control
I cheer up, this is a good match
Game 1 after many draw go, I need to discard a hand card in the cleaning phase and discards a Pif, to get 4 rituals, 1 grapeshot, 1 gifts and 1 manamorphose ... Poor choice ... it makes titan black and Pass, I make gifts in the pass and I do not choose another Pif, just remand, ritual, ritual and manamorphose, another pessima choice .... on my turn I do all the magic, he's with 4 lands standing, I imagine a snap to Recapitular something and I do the PiF of the grave ... he remand, I respond with the remand, but of course it is not enough ... he remand again and exile my PiF ... I make cantrips with what is left of mana that was Much, but without success, on the turn it closes the game 1
Game 2 the same follows, much draw go, I feel confidence and I do Baral and I have another one in the hand, in his shift he makes thoughtseize, takes the Baral, and does Fatal in the one that is in the table, I spend my Remand ... Poor choice. At some point I need to try or lose it on the back ... I solve the rituals and the manamorphose in the hardcast, when I go to PiF he does Cryptic Command, I answer with Remand, but he has dispel ... and I get 4 manas in the pool With nothing to do ... in this game I had access to 2 remand and 1 dispel, and I wasted
I understand now that counter-magic in games against Controls, are only for those of my opponent, we will often have to go in the arm without reducers, and the counters help at this moment ....
Side In + 1 swan, + 2 dispel, + 1 empty, + 2 pieces
Side Out - 2 apostles. - 1 Gifts, - 2 thought, - 1 sleight
Good PPTQ finalized, even having lost to myself, I feel happy, I returned to play about two years, and was the first really important tournament with Gifts Storm, now is to improve and leave for the GP.
I do not know if I will continue with 2 apostles and 2 Thought Scour MD ... they were not so useful ...
Leyline saved me in the game against the DS as well as the Paths, and can help against Burn, I'll probably keep them ... but I do not know what to upload to the MD ... if they have opnions I'll accept please kkk
Thanks, and sorry for the size of the text.
My sideboard:
-2 Bloodmoom
-2 Leyline
-1 Pieces of the puzzle
-3 Lightning bolt
-1 pyroclasm
-1 dismember
-1 empty
-2 shattering spree
-1 echoing truth
-1 stuffy doll
I was meda gaming for burn which was very popular in the tournament. The stuffy doll was a gag joke but is actually extremely powerful in the grixis matchup
My matchups:
Affinity:
+3 bolt +2 spree +1 pyroclasm
-4 remand -1 empty -1 PIF
I played the same player twice, lost too him game 1 then beat him in the finals
Grixis DS
+1 empty the warrens +1 lightning bolt +2 leyline
+1 stuffy doll +1 pieces of the puzzle +1 dismember
-2 gifts -1 PIF -1 Grapeshot -2 electromancer -1 sleight
Empty warrens main and side helped me 2-0 this matchup
UWx control
+2 bloodmoom +1 empty +1 echoing truth +1 pieces of the puzzle -2 gifts -1 electromancer -1 Grapeshot -1 PIF
Played this matchup twice, bloodmoom was an instant kill several times, main reason it is still in my sideboard
Merfolk
+3 lightning bolt +1 pyroclasm +1 pieces of the puzzle
-1 pyretic ritual -3 remand -1 sleight of hand
An easy matchup, didn't bring in 2nd empty cause they can win with islandwalk
BW Eldrazi
- I drew for this match, glad I did because they wreck your hand
Lantern control
+2 bloodmoon +1 empty the warrens +2 leyline +1 stuffy doll +1 pieces of the puzzle +1 echoing truth +2 shattering spree
-2 gifts ungiven -2 serum visions -1 grapeshot -1 PIF -3 remand -1 pyretic ritual -1 desperate ritual
Lots of storm players think that this is a good matchup but this is not true, they have hand disruption, mainboard surgicals, usually 4 sideboard leylines, and answers to all your cards. You win the majority of the games by beating down with mana reducers while they work to stop you from comboing. I won on halarious dumb luck, he had a full lock on me including leyline, then I slieght of handed into stuffy doll, proceeded to combo off and grape short stuffy doll for lethal, made me so happy that it won me a game!
I remove the apostles because it is very difficult to get as many slots on a deck as a storm, where you do not want to lose spaces in the combo, this part of the side in and side out is perhaps one of the most complicated.
I could't play this weekend but I had the opportunity to see your top 8 game and I saw the same mistakes you pointed in your report.
I am building some stuff for GP São Paulo and would love to keep this conversation (in portuguese hehe).
Abraços!
Round 1: UB Faeries 2-1
Game 1 I stormed off and killed him on turn 3 after landing a turn 2 Baral. He was mana screwed that game so there wasn't much he could do to actually stop me. Game 2 he lands a turn 1 Cage, and I spend the rest of the game trying to find a reducer while getting smacked by various 1/1 faeries. Game 3 I went for a turn 3 Empty after he surgical extractioned my Pyretic Rituals and won on the back of 14 Goblin tokens.
Round 2: Eldrazi Tron 2-1
Last time I played this guy he was on a strange mono blue brew, which was what I was expecting. I was not expecting a turn 1 tron land followed by a mainboard Relic of Progenitus. He failed to find another land even after saccing the relic, so game 1 was easy. Game two he landed a Chalice on 2, and with my sideboard there was no way I was getting out of that. Ah well, such is life. Game 3 he lands a turn 1 cage, then surgical extracts my Echoing Truths. I spent a few turns in the tank trying to figure out how I could steal the win, and wound up storming off to the point where I could Grapeshot-Remand-Grapeshot for the win.
Round 3: Esper Goryo Gifts 2-0
Wasn't sure what to expect here, to be honest. I'm building the non-gifts version of the deck at the moment, which has much more hand disruption than his version. I was expecting alot of that, but saw only a few hand-disruption spells both games. Not much exciting happened here--I went with the 'wait to play a reducer until he's tapped out' plan both games, which paid off nicely. Was a bit scared he'd Gifts for Rites and Iona but I never saw a single Gifts either game. He did land a turn 2 Ghost Council game 2, but the life gain wasn't enough to save him.
Round 4: Eldrazi and Taxes 2-1
I pretty much went into this round resigned to a loss. I knew what the guy was playing, and I always have trouble with this deck. Game 1 goes as expected. Turn 2 Thalia, Eldrazi to the face. Owch. Game 2 I land a turn 3 Blood Moon, we both have a few turns of draw-land-pass, and then I go off with Empty the Warrens at 10 and kill him with an army of Gobbos. Game 3 I land another turn 3 Blood Moon, and he misplayed by not destroying one of his own lands with a Ghost Quarter to get a plains. We play draw-land-go for a few turns, before going off sans-reducer and casting Empty the Warrens for 7.
Overall I was super happy with last night. I've got plenty of 3-1 finishes in the past, but getting that elusive 4-0 has been a goal of mine for awhile with Storm. Going to update the post later tonight with my list and sideboarding decisions, but I figured I'd at least get my thoughts down while it was still fairly fresh in my mind.
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
Dredge is better positioned vs Grixis Shadow I believe because of how ineffective discard and single creature removal is against it
Grixis DS is on a solid downswing (which is good news!). Right now I'd play whatever races better as Affinity is top dog.
Currently playing:
- URx Twin in Modern
#RIPTwinhttp://www.twitch.tv/trei_gamer
Corollary to this, I watched one of the local grinders (who plays dredge) testing against Affinity because in his words "It's a terrible matchup and if I can steal one match out of three that will be great". So if you expect a bunch of robots to show up, play storm.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Is Hurkyls good for the MU still??
@Robo_Memer on Twitter, Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube
Feel free to PM me about Affinity decks in any format!
Hey, I am also going to be going to the open in Syracuse and had to choose a deck. My options were, junk, grixis shadow, burn, vizier combo, Kiki chord, white hatebears, grixis control, UW control, blue moon, infect, and eldrazi. So just about every deck except dredge, I will be playing storm because of a recent experience at a PPTQ, everyone was finding ways to defeat deaths shadow which allows a deck like storm that isn't expected sweep the meda. I think all of the GDS spikes will be taken out early and you'll be facing more decks like affinity, therefor storm will do better in the later rounds. If you are a skilled player you can maximize your game play with storm, whereas dredge is mostly a deck of memory and triggers. If you choose storm let's chat about a good list for the weekend