It would seem like it's really good against Burn if you ritual into a Madcap turn 2, but then again there's a good chance they bring in Destructive Revelry which answers the Emperion pretty nicely. I think it's a good sideboard plan against other aggressive damage based strategies though, it just seems like alot of SB slots devoted to a plan that's only good against a few decks
Guys I've been testing out Cathartic Reunion, and I think it's actually pretty good. It requires a bit more maneuvering to get it to resolve, but it feels similar to Treasure Cruise when it does resolve. Where Cruise depleted our graveyard, Reunion depletes the hand, but the draw 3 feels excellent along with getting rid of extraneous cards in your hand. And it feels like the literal best card in your deck with an ascension up. I've had success against control with it, you just have to bait out counters and wait for the opportune moment to cast it.
I'm currently running 3 Moons out of the board with 10 fetches, and its been excellent. Good against Tron, Jund, any Abzan variety, and even Jeskai Nahiri. Early moon is good, but even getting down a moon lategame and then being able to protect it is really strong--this is especially relevant against Nahiri, as it shuts down their manlands, so as long as you can prevent a Nahiri from hitting play you can pretty much lock them.
If we want to look for some more innovative ways to adjust the list, we definitely should look at Aetherflux Reservoir. I think that there's build around potential, especially considering it could give the deck a much better game against super aggressive strategies. I don't know how well it directly slots into a Finkel 75 (maybe as a 1 or 2 of SB), but if we rework the main deck there could be something there.
I personally love the Finkel main, and feel that success with the deck revolves around learning every different line you can take in different matchups. I find that pretty fun, because it forces you to really question every single sequencing decision that you make, and so the small subtleties of the deck really shine the more experience that you get. However, even with all of that preparation, if your opponent knows how to beat Storm with their deck, you're still fighting an uphill battle. If there's room to innovate, we should try
I tested it for a few games this morning, and I definitely think that the 3-0 split is correct. It makes late game against control slightly worse (because we want to build up a large land count in control matchups that go long), but it helps a ton with your life total.
It also helps to mitigate those potentially painful draws where you have several copies of Shivan Reef in your opener and nothing else. I've lost a fair number of games because the reefs took off what would have equated to an extra turn. I'm super excited about these lands, this is probably the best addition that we've gotten to the deck in a few years haha.
For the last slot, I'm debating between either the third Shatterstorm, a second Echoing Truth, a second Anger, or a Defense Grid. I think I'm leaning more towards the second Echoing Truth because of the uptick in graveyard hate, but the other options are all pretty tempting. Any thoughts?
I feel like there’s been a good amount of splash hate coming from the recent success of the Dredge deck, mostly due to more decks playing Grafdigger's Cage and a higher percentage of Rest in Peace appearing.
Because of this, I’m curious what peoples’ thoughts are on the white splash for Wear // Tear that was discussed quite a long time ago.
There’s a few reasons I think that we may want to consider this again:
1. Grafdigger's Cage is being played a lot more now, and Shatterstorm is a poor answer to it
2. RIP is still pretty challenging to play around, even with Empty. Also, I feel inclined to bring in Empty against any deck that plays white because of the threat of this card.
3. I think that Eldritch Evolution is going to cause an uptick in Pod-type decks, which gives them yet another easy method for tutoring up an Eidolon of Rhetoric
I’m aware that Empty is a pretty good answer to any of these strategies, and it very may well be the best answer, but I think it’s still worth considering the Wear Tear plan. As a bonus, it appears that the percentage of Affinity has dropped some, so the Shatterstorm wouldn’t be as effective, and it honestly feels like Shatterstorm rots in your sideboard a good percentage of the time.
Thoughts on the newly spoiled Chaos Reveler? It's not doubled by ascension, but feels like it would often be a red 2 mana draw 3. I'm not sure what my opinion is on it as of yet though
You can also use a Probe turn 1 if you have two or more copies of it in your hand. Just save the second one for the moment before you would like to play an engine if you want to see if the coast is clear
I would also mention that learning how to use your engines as bait is a really important skill to have. For example, if you're holding a Goblin and an Ascension, and you know from a Probe that the opponent has Abrupt Decay, it's definitely worth playing out the Goblin to draw out the decay. The reason being is that that is most likely their only answer to an Ascension, and the Goblin would have more removal targets in general because it's easier to remove, so you're in effect clearing the way for one of your engines. You can do this similarly with 2 Goblins; let them burn the first one away after you cast it turn 2 if they're holding only 1 removal spell, and then cast another Goblin turn 3 and potentially go off with them out of removal.
Other things to note: after asking this question several months ago, I now fully support holding a Gitaxian Probe until turn 2. This is the best way to see what line you need to take to either keep your engine safe or to bait out some removal to get one to stick. If the coast is clear on that turn 2 Probe, it's sometimes correct to play out a turn 2 Goblin, because it gives you a great chance at a turn 3 kill.
Playing Goblin Electromancer correctly is one of the most important aspects of this deck, so its really important you know the various lines you can take with it. And don't forget to attack with them where possible!
I would agree with the Moons over Bolts against Jund, they were situationally good for me that game but if I had them moon would definitely come in.
Could you explain the reasoning for bringing in Empty against infect? It only really helps us block Glistener Elf, and seems too slow to kill if they get either the Inkmoth or the Blighted Agent. I guess I'm just confused why that's any better than just leaving in cantrips to help the Grapeshot kill run smoother (plus the additional grapeshot could be helpful to knock out an early elf or agent)
I haven't been able to afford Blood Moons yet, but I'm working on it. I've been testing Torpor Orb recently, and its actually been really good against Snapcaster decks, thopter-sword, and CoCo strategies. I've been rocking two Anger for a while, and they've been great, I think they're essential for this current meta.
Round 1: Abzan
G1
This list was pretty much a stock BGx list with Path to Exile and Lingering Souls, not the CoCo version. He mulls to 6 the first game and has no discard spell on the play. I spend the first few turns cantripping, playing an Ascension turn 3 that gets hit by Abrupt Decay. Luckily, I find a backup Ascension the next turn and get it active, killing turn 5. His hand had 3 Paths and a Lilli after the Decay hit, so it was an easy game 1.
Sideboard
-4 Thought Scour
I always bring in Empty against BGx, along with the always present 1 Echoing truth. If I had blood moons, I'd also bring in 3 here and take out a Grapeshot, a PiF, and an Ascension.
G2
He has turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek to hit a hand consisting of Goblin, double Desperate Ritual, Sleight, PiF, and two land. Oddly, he takes one of the rituals. I cantrip into an Empty and make 8 Goblin tokens turn 3. However, he had Lingering Souls his turn 3, as well as a second copy turn 4 followed up with a Sorin, Solemn Visitor turn 5 to make goblin combat pretty bad with the lifelink. I move to plan B: I cast a Goblin followed by a Sleight to find an Ascension, cast it, and then cast 2 Manamorphose to activate it. Flashing back a Desperate Ravings copied finds me the last ritual I need to cast PiF and go off through Grapeshot.
1-0
Round 2: Jund
G1
Jund is generally a rough matchup for us, and Desperate Ravings generally is the key card in and BGx matchup. My opening hand consists of 2 Ravings, so I'm pretty happy to keep. I Gitaxian Probe turn 2 to see 2 Lightning Bolt, Terminate, Grim Lavamancer, and land; definitely not safe for my Electromancer. He topdecks a Scavenging Ooze, and my graveyard gets some pressure. I get pretty unlucky with my Ravings, loosing two additional copies of Ravings to the random discard as well as a PiF, which all get exiled by the ooze. I get an Ascension down and activate, and manage to dig through my deck to get the last copy of PiF to build up a large enough storm count for the double grapeshot in my hand, despite the Ooze.
Sideboard
-4 Thought Scour
-1 Grapeshot
-1 Past in Flames
-1 Pyromancer Ascension
I board similar to round 1, except that I bring in bolts because I saw the ooze and lavamancers. Empty is great against BGx
G2 Inquisition of Kozilek turn 1 taking a cantrip slows me down considerably. He also lands an early Lavamancer and starts trying to burn me out. Turn 4 I make 10 goblin tokens with him at 15 life. He drops a Huntmaster of the Fells and a Tarmogoyf as well; I use a bolt on the huntmaster and an echoing truth on the wolf token as a pseudo permanent removal spell, allowing the goyf to remain. I knock him down to 3 with 5 goblins left after damage, but on his turn he plays a second goyf as well as a Liliana of the Veil, ticking down to kill off a Goblin, leaving me with 4 goblins staring down two 4/5 goyfs. We hit an interesting point in the game where neither of us can really attack profitably, and my 2 extra empty and 1 PiF are stranded in my hand because I only have 3 mana. We play draw-go for a few turns as he makes me discard with Lilli. Eventually, I draw a manamorphose which draws me the last land I need to play an Empty for 4, giving me enough goblins to power through the last 3 points of damage. Luckily I dodged Maelstrom Pulse the entire match.
2-0
Round 3: Infect
G1
This guy ended up winning the whole FNM, and the games weren't very close. He wins the die-roll, and has Hierarch into Inkmoth+vines turn 3 to put me at 5 poison. I Probe and see another vines, so I know I need to try to go off my turn 3. Having a turn 2 Goblin helped, but I dig about 12 cards deep without seeing a PiF. Had I found one from one of my cantrips, I had the rituals to go off, but no to avails this time and I die.
Sideboard
-3 Desperate Ravings
-4 Thought Scour
I take out the weaker cantrips for interaction. Bolt is obviously good, and anger can catch the non-inkmoth creatures. Echoing truth is always good
G2
On the play, I cantrip into an Anger, he plays a T1 Glistener elf. I cantrip more turn 2, and he hits me to 3 poison. Turn 3 I draw an Echoing truth. I have a hard time deciding on either playing Anger or Echoing Truth here; he has one mana open, so if he has some combo of mutagenic growths and pump, he can save his creature from anger, while the only out he has to echoing truth is Apostle's Blessing. I convince myself that that play is correct, and so I cast the Echoing Truth on my own turn and he of course has the Blessing. I die next turn. In retrospect, casting the Anger was probably correct because he would have needed to 2 for 1 himself with pump to save it, which means less pump on my turn. If you guys could give your opinions on this line, let me know what you think.
2-1
Round 4: Jeskai Geist
G1
My lands for the first 3 turns are only 2Shivan Reef, and I ping myself enough that 1 hit from Geist of Saint Traft plus burn kills me. I didn't do anything exciting that game.
Sideboard
-4 Thought Scour
He played a couple of counters game 1, so I bring in empties as they are generally better against counterspells than PiF is
G2
I bait out a Spell Snare turn 2 on an Electromancer because I have a backup one. He taps low turn 3 for a Baby Jace, and I rip an Empty off the top and make 12 tokens. He dies shortly thereafter. He told me he sided out all his wrath effects, so I knew they were coming back in
G3
Turn 2 Probe reveals a Snare, baby jace, think twice, burn, and land. I stay patient with the Snare, and wait until my turn 4 to do anything exciting. On turn 4, I cast a ritual, which he snares. I then cast a second ritual, manamorphose, third ritual, and empty for 12 goblins again (his spell snare adding to the storm count). He manages to get me down to 7 life via Snap-bolting me, but I don't bite on going to 6 life from my fetchland and kill him with a Bolt and a Helix in his hand, pulling off the 3-1.
3-1
Overall solid night, Blood moons would have been great against the 3 color decks, but as you can see it's definitely not necessary to have game against them. Let me know if you guys have any comments!
I feel like overall we have a better game against control type decks as compared to the hyperagressive builds, so I definitely think that this unbanning will be good for us.
This is coming from a guy that swears by Desperate Ravings; I've always disliked Faithless Looting and Tormenting Voice. It's definitely worth checking out
I personally love the Finkel main, and feel that success with the deck revolves around learning every different line you can take in different matchups. I find that pretty fun, because it forces you to really question every single sequencing decision that you make, and so the small subtleties of the deck really shine the more experience that you get. However, even with all of that preparation, if your opponent knows how to beat Storm with their deck, you're still fighting an uphill battle. If there's room to innovate, we should try
It also helps to mitigate those potentially painful draws where you have several copies of Shivan Reef in your opener and nothing else. I've lost a fair number of games because the reefs took off what would have equated to an extra turn. I'm super excited about these lands, this is probably the best addition that we've gotten to the deck in a few years haha.
3 Blood Moon
2 Shatterstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Echoing Truth
1 Anger of the Gods
1 XXX
For the last slot, I'm debating between either the third Shatterstorm, a second Echoing Truth, a second Anger, or a Defense Grid. I think I'm leaning more towards the second Echoing Truth because of the uptick in graveyard hate, but the other options are all pretty tempting. Any thoughts?
Because of this, I’m curious what peoples’ thoughts are on the white splash for Wear // Tear that was discussed quite a long time ago.
There’s a few reasons I think that we may want to consider this again:
1. Grafdigger's Cage is being played a lot more now, and Shatterstorm is a poor answer to it
2. RIP is still pretty challenging to play around, even with Empty. Also, I feel inclined to bring in Empty against any deck that plays white because of the threat of this card.
3. I think that Eldritch Evolution is going to cause an uptick in Pod-type decks, which gives them yet another easy method for tutoring up an Eidolon of Rhetoric
I’m aware that Empty is a pretty good answer to any of these strategies, and it very may well be the best answer, but I think it’s still worth considering the Wear Tear plan. As a bonus, it appears that the percentage of Affinity has dropped some, so the Shatterstorm wouldn’t be as effective, and it honestly feels like Shatterstorm rots in your sideboard a good percentage of the time.
Other things to note: after asking this question several months ago, I now fully support holding a Gitaxian Probe until turn 2. This is the best way to see what line you need to take to either keep your engine safe or to bait out some removal to get one to stick. If the coast is clear on that turn 2 Probe, it's sometimes correct to play out a turn 2 Goblin, because it gives you a great chance at a turn 3 kill.
Playing Goblin Electromancer correctly is one of the most important aspects of this deck, so its really important you know the various lines you can take with it. And don't forget to attack with them where possible!
Could you explain the reasoning for bringing in Empty against infect? It only really helps us block Glistener Elf, and seems too slow to kill if they get either the Inkmoth or the Blighted Agent. I guess I'm just confused why that's any better than just leaving in cantrips to help the Grapeshot kill run smoother (plus the additional grapeshot could be helpful to knock out an early elf or agent)
3x Empty the Warrens
3x Shatterstorm
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Echoing Truth
1x Dispel
1x Torpor Orb
I haven't been able to afford Blood Moons yet, but I'm working on it. I've been testing Torpor Orb recently, and its actually been really good against Snapcaster decks, thopter-sword, and CoCo strategies. I've been rocking two Anger for a while, and they've been great, I think they're essential for this current meta.
Round 1: Abzan
G1
This list was pretty much a stock BGx list with Path to Exile and Lingering Souls, not the CoCo version. He mulls to 6 the first game and has no discard spell on the play. I spend the first few turns cantripping, playing an Ascension turn 3 that gets hit by Abrupt Decay. Luckily, I find a backup Ascension the next turn and get it active, killing turn 5. His hand had 3 Paths and a Lilli after the Decay hit, so it was an easy game 1.
Sideboard
-4 Thought Scour
+3 Empty the Warrens
+1 Echoing Truth
I always bring in Empty against BGx, along with the always present 1 Echoing truth. If I had blood moons, I'd also bring in 3 here and take out a Grapeshot, a PiF, and an Ascension.
G2
He has turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek to hit a hand consisting of Goblin, double Desperate Ritual, Sleight, PiF, and two land. Oddly, he takes one of the rituals. I cantrip into an Empty and make 8 Goblin tokens turn 3. However, he had Lingering Souls his turn 3, as well as a second copy turn 4 followed up with a Sorin, Solemn Visitor turn 5 to make goblin combat pretty bad with the lifelink. I move to plan B: I cast a Goblin followed by a Sleight to find an Ascension, cast it, and then cast 2 Manamorphose to activate it. Flashing back a Desperate Ravings copied finds me the last ritual I need to cast PiF and go off through Grapeshot.
1-0
Round 2: Jund
G1
Jund is generally a rough matchup for us, and Desperate Ravings generally is the key card in and BGx matchup. My opening hand consists of 2 Ravings, so I'm pretty happy to keep. I Gitaxian Probe turn 2 to see 2 Lightning Bolt, Terminate, Grim Lavamancer, and land; definitely not safe for my Electromancer. He topdecks a Scavenging Ooze, and my graveyard gets some pressure. I get pretty unlucky with my Ravings, loosing two additional copies of Ravings to the random discard as well as a PiF, which all get exiled by the ooze. I get an Ascension down and activate, and manage to dig through my deck to get the last copy of PiF to build up a large enough storm count for the double grapeshot in my hand, despite the Ooze.
Sideboard
-4 Thought Scour
-1 Grapeshot
-1 Past in Flames
-1 Pyromancer Ascension
+3 Empty the Warrens
+3 Lightning Bolt
+1 Echoing Truth
I board similar to round 1, except that I bring in bolts because I saw the ooze and lavamancers. Empty is great against BGx
G2
Inquisition of Kozilek turn 1 taking a cantrip slows me down considerably. He also lands an early Lavamancer and starts trying to burn me out. Turn 4 I make 10 goblin tokens with him at 15 life. He drops a Huntmaster of the Fells and a Tarmogoyf as well; I use a bolt on the huntmaster and an echoing truth on the wolf token as a pseudo permanent removal spell, allowing the goyf to remain. I knock him down to 3 with 5 goblins left after damage, but on his turn he plays a second goyf as well as a Liliana of the Veil, ticking down to kill off a Goblin, leaving me with 4 goblins staring down two 4/5 goyfs. We hit an interesting point in the game where neither of us can really attack profitably, and my 2 extra empty and 1 PiF are stranded in my hand because I only have 3 mana. We play draw-go for a few turns as he makes me discard with Lilli. Eventually, I draw a manamorphose which draws me the last land I need to play an Empty for 4, giving me enough goblins to power through the last 3 points of damage. Luckily I dodged Maelstrom Pulse the entire match.
2-0
Round 3: Infect
G1
This guy ended up winning the whole FNM, and the games weren't very close. He wins the die-roll, and has Hierarch into Inkmoth+vines turn 3 to put me at 5 poison. I Probe and see another vines, so I know I need to try to go off my turn 3. Having a turn 2 Goblin helped, but I dig about 12 cards deep without seeing a PiF. Had I found one from one of my cantrips, I had the rituals to go off, but no to avails this time and I die.
Sideboard
-3 Desperate Ravings
-4 Thought Scour
+4 Lightning Bolt
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Echoing Truth
I take out the weaker cantrips for interaction. Bolt is obviously good, and anger can catch the non-inkmoth creatures. Echoing truth is always good
G2
On the play, I cantrip into an Anger, he plays a T1 Glistener elf. I cantrip more turn 2, and he hits me to 3 poison. Turn 3 I draw an Echoing truth. I have a hard time deciding on either playing Anger or Echoing Truth here; he has one mana open, so if he has some combo of mutagenic growths and pump, he can save his creature from anger, while the only out he has to echoing truth is Apostle's Blessing. I convince myself that that play is correct, and so I cast the Echoing Truth on my own turn and he of course has the Blessing. I die next turn. In retrospect, casting the Anger was probably correct because he would have needed to 2 for 1 himself with pump to save it, which means less pump on my turn. If you guys could give your opinions on this line, let me know what you think.
2-1
Round 4: Jeskai Geist
G1
My lands for the first 3 turns are only 2Shivan Reef, and I ping myself enough that 1 hit from Geist of Saint Traft plus burn kills me. I didn't do anything exciting that game.
Sideboard
-4 Thought Scour
+3 Empty the Warrens
+1 Echoing Truth
He played a couple of counters game 1, so I bring in empties as they are generally better against counterspells than PiF is
G2
I bait out a Spell Snare turn 2 on an Electromancer because I have a backup one. He taps low turn 3 for a Baby Jace, and I rip an Empty off the top and make 12 tokens. He dies shortly thereafter. He told me he sided out all his wrath effects, so I knew they were coming back in
G3
Turn 2 Probe reveals a Snare, baby jace, think twice, burn, and land. I stay patient with the Snare, and wait until my turn 4 to do anything exciting. On turn 4, I cast a ritual, which he snares. I then cast a second ritual, manamorphose, third ritual, and empty for 12 goblins again (his spell snare adding to the storm count). He manages to get me down to 7 life via Snap-bolting me, but I don't bite on going to 6 life from my fetchland and kill him with a Bolt and a Helix in his hand, pulling off the 3-1.
3-1
Overall solid night, Blood moons would have been great against the 3 color decks, but as you can see it's definitely not necessary to have game against them. Let me know if you guys have any comments!