Metamorph is for the pod mirror, you can kill their linvala or copy their pod so you don't get too far behind.
I don't see the point of thalia or teeg. You'd probably want another canonist over thalia. Sometimes they kill your canonist so it's useful to be able to chord/pod for another one. Is teeg for control match ups? Teeg kills your best card in pod. I'd rather just side into lingering souls and thrun against control and grind them out with township.
I didn't play any Pod mirrors all day, so I didn't board it in anywhere.
Thalia and Teeg were both Meta-choices, since I knew about ten people there were on Storm, and eight of them were on Epic Experiment Storm. Since Teeg is pretty good against that particular storm, I put him in. But I did get a free win off of Thalia into Teeg. That was pretty sweet.
I've already changed up 1 Deathrite Shaman for 1 Noble Hierarch, and I'm really questioning the Metamorph in the board, since I never actually found a need for it.
Thank you sir for this well explained experience, now, a few questions:
How you like the white splash for Mirror Entity instead of solid mono green for emrakul?
I have no problem with mirror entity, but to me it seems weaker than Emrakul, even if much more easy to cast:
I mean, if you combo out early, your creature doesn't have haste, and few of them can attack, so, they may chump block and then play something like perish and such.
not sure if you got what I mean, anyway I would like some explanation from people who use it, about how Mirror entity is preferred to emrakul.
Also, how did the Meekstone worked out?
Did it pay off or not? Which deck really are stopped by it?
To me it seems only rug may be slowed down by it, and maybe I would just use something like Steely Resolve / Rule of Law to protect my dudes
Not a problem at all.
I prefer to use the G/W version because Mirror Entity can win you games that you have no business winning at all. For example, in the Reanimator matchup, he put Iona in and named green. Against the mono green version, this is absolutely game over, but against G/W, the deck is still drawing live to Entity, and would've won me the game on the spot.
Yes, there is a higher risk of being Wastelanded and losing to a Price of Progress, but Entity is a faster, more consistent kill than Emrakul. Also, probably an overlooked aspect of G/W is that you can play more than one of your kill condition - since you can't really play more than one Emrakul/Craterhoof Behemoth in the other versions.
Meekstone is primarily in the sideboard for RUG, but they also come in against any deck that plays a bunch of lords (like Merfolk). The RUG list that finished in the top 8 played 2 Ancient Grudge as their only out to Meekstone, so it can completely lock your opponent out of the game if they're not expecting it. I was talking to my RUG opponent after round 8, and he didn't even bring the Grudge in against me.
Your best weapon against RUG is definitely Wirewood Symbiote. Being able to protect a guy from Bolts or blocking Tarmogoyf is the best way to kill your opponent.
I've been playing Elves for about two and a half years, but played the Buried Alive/Vengevine + Cabal Therapy version for a long time. I saw Chris Andersen's list at Detroit, and decided to play the Mirror Entity variant instead. In my testing, I found the fourth Macabre to be really bad, and wished that it was something else. The last card rotated between an Absolute Law, a Krosan Grip, a fourth Meekstone, and a Pithing Needle. About ten minutes before the player meeting, I decided on a Surgical Extraction.
Anyway, on to the matches... (Apologies if I got your name wrong, just let me know and I'll fix it)
Round One: Keith Sherrill with U/B Show and Tell/Helm of Obidience
Game One he didn't really do anything util he Forced my Nettle Sentinel on turn three. End of turn, he Intuitions for three Emrakuls (out of principle, I give him the one that's not signed). On his turn he plays Show and Tell, puts the Emrakul into play, and I put a Priest in. I untap, play Glimpse, Heritage Druid, Wirewood Symbiote, Elvish Visionary, and concedes.
Sideboard: -1 Crop Rotation; +1 Scavenging Ooze
Game Two he mulls to four and is never really in it.
1-0; 2-0
Round Two: Josh ? with U/W Stoneblade
Game One he STP'd my Priest on turn two, Snapcasters the STP on my Symbiote on turn three, plays Elspeth on turn four, and attacks for five. I play another Priest and pass, he pumps Tiago and attacks again. He forces my Glimpse, and I drop the rest of my hand into play. He plays Stoneforge - fetching Jitte - pumps Snapcaster and attacks me to 5. I untap, play Gaea's Cradle and Mirror Entity, and attack for 130.
Sideboard: -1 Quirion Ranger; +1 Qasali Pridemage
Game Two was much more of a grind - he Forced my Glimpse on turn 3; then after I dumped my hand on turn 4, Forced the Mirror Entity; then plays a Sword of Fire and Ice and Sower of Temptation turn seven to steal my Quirion Ranger. I untap, play Pendelhaven, then attack with two Symbiotes and a Nettle Sentinel. He blocks both Symbiotes, and I activate Pendelhaven on the Symbiote blocked by the Sower. He takes two and goes to 4. He looks at his top card and concedes.
2-0; 4-0
Round Three: Sean Ryan with Reanimator
Game One he went turn three Iona, name green. I was still drawing live to a Mirror Entity, but he Entombed and Exhumed Elesh Norn.
Game Two he Forces my Zenith for two, then Entombs Elesh Norn. I don't draw any of my graveyard hate, and he Reanimates it the next turn.
2-1; 4-2
Round Four: Zachary Eagle with Death and Taxes
Game One I played Zenith for one on turn 3, he responds with Aven Mindsensor. I'm able to find a Quirion Ranger, but that slows me down enough so that I lose to two Aven Mindsensors with Swords.
Sideboard: -1 Quirion Ranger; +1 Qasali Pridemage
Games Two and Three I combo off on turns three and four, respectively.
3-1; 6-3
Round Five: Jesse Mason with Craterhoof Behemoth Elves
Game One he kills me on turn three with double Glimpse.
Sideboard: -1 Viridian Shaman; +1 Mortarpod
Game Two my opening hand is Dryad Arbor, Gaea's Cradle, Glimpse, Symbiote, Visionary, Birchlore Rangers, Nettle Sentinel. I kept, played Dryad Arbor and said go. He played a Fyndhorn Elves, I drew a second Sentinel for the turn and killed him on turn two.
Game Three we both keep hands without Glimpse, so it comes down to the most Symbiote activations. I win the race, and kill him.
4-1; 8-4
Round Six: Henry Romero with Merfolk
Game One he concedes to my Regal Force for twelve with thirteen mana floating.
Game Two I couldn't find Glimpse after playing Visionary and two Symbiote activations (bouncing and replaying the Visionary), so I play Regal Force for twelve. Don't find a Glimpse or Mirror Entity. Zenith for one, find the third Symbiote, bounce and replay the Visionary. Draw Zenith. Play Zenith again, find the last Symbiote. Return and replay the Visionary, finally draw the Glimpse. I play it and win from there.
5-1; 10-4
Round Seven: Quinton Ewing with Belcher
Game One he plays Empty the Warrens for sixteen goblins on turn one. I didn't draw the Glimpse I needed in my two draw steps and lost.
Sideboard: -1 Viridian Shaman, -2 Glimpse of Nature, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Priest of Titania; +4 Thorn of Amethyst, +1 Gaddock Teeg
Game Two we both double mulligan, and he plays double Empty the Warrens for 34 goblins on turn four. I untap, draw Teeg, and concede.
5-2; 10-6
Round Eight: Francis Yao with RUG Delver
Game One he doesn't have a turn one play, and loses on turn three.
Game Two the Nimble Mongoose he plays on turn 1 almost gets him there, but he scoops to a Regal Force for seven with an untapped Gaea's Cradle.
6-2; 12-6
-------------------
The last minute adjustment to Surgical over the fourth Faerie Macabre was probably a mistake. The only time that I actually brought it in was against Reanimator, and the Macabre is clearly better anyway. It should probably be a second Scavenging Ooze, and in future versions, I'll probably bring the one in the Sideboard into the main. One card that a friend reccommended for the sideboard was Ground Seal. I'm not sure how much I like it, but I'll give it a shot.
As for the matches themselves, the keep in Game Two of the Elf mirror was pretty loose, I will grant you, but I justified it by the fact that he couldn't kill me turn one, and if I drew any 1cc creature, I could probably win. I kept boarding out Quirion Ranger because it always felt like the weakest card in the deck - probably just a remnant of my previous version. I'm not sure if it was right, although in all of my games, I only saw an actual sideboard card twice (Pridemage against Stoneblade, Teeg against Belcher), so it didn't matter all that much.
Additionally, for anyone that picks up the deck, I will state this as loud as I possibly can: Keep track of your triggers! I almost lost the Merfolk match because I missed a ton of Sentinel triggers. I can't really blame that on anyone but myself, and I think the only reason that I won that game is because that matchup is miserable for Merfolk if they don't have a ton of lords.
The storm versions I played ran Lightning Bolt to deal with Canonist. I wanted more answers.
I didn't play any Pod mirrors all day, so I didn't board it in anywhere.
Thalia and Teeg were both Meta-choices, since I knew about ten people there were on Storm, and eight of them were on Epic Experiment Storm. Since Teeg is pretty good against that particular storm, I put him in. But I did get a free win off of Thalia into Teeg. That was pretty sweet.
4 Birthing Pod
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Chord of Calling
Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
2 Deathrite Shaman
3 Viscera Seer
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wall of Roots
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Murderous Redcape
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Reveillark
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Razorverge Thicket
3 Gavony Township
3 Snow-covered Forest
1 Snow-covered Swamp
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Spellskite
1 Back to Nature
1 Inquisition of Kozliek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Lingering Souls
I've already changed up 1 Deathrite Shaman for 1 Noble Hierarch, and I'm really questioning the Metamorph in the board, since I never actually found a need for it.
Not a problem at all.
I prefer to use the G/W version because Mirror Entity can win you games that you have no business winning at all. For example, in the Reanimator matchup, he put Iona in and named green. Against the mono green version, this is absolutely game over, but against G/W, the deck is still drawing live to Entity, and would've won me the game on the spot.
Yes, there is a higher risk of being Wastelanded and losing to a Price of Progress, but Entity is a faster, more consistent kill than Emrakul. Also, probably an overlooked aspect of G/W is that you can play more than one of your kill condition - since you can't really play more than one Emrakul/Craterhoof Behemoth in the other versions.
Meekstone is primarily in the sideboard for RUG, but they also come in against any deck that plays a bunch of lords (like Merfolk). The RUG list that finished in the top 8 played 2 Ancient Grudge as their only out to Meekstone, so it can completely lock your opponent out of the game if they're not expecting it. I was talking to my RUG opponent after round 8, and he didn't even bring the Grudge in against me.
Your best weapon against RUG is definitely Wirewood Symbiote. Being able to protect a guy from Bolts or blocking Tarmogoyf is the best way to kill your opponent.
Here's my list for reference.
Anyway, on to the matches... (Apologies if I got your name wrong, just let me know and I'll fix it)
Round One: Keith Sherrill with U/B Show and Tell/Helm of Obidience
Game One he didn't really do anything util he Forced my Nettle Sentinel on turn three. End of turn, he Intuitions for three Emrakuls (out of principle, I give him the one that's not signed). On his turn he plays Show and Tell, puts the Emrakul into play, and I put a Priest in. I untap, play Glimpse, Heritage Druid, Wirewood Symbiote, Elvish Visionary, and concedes.
Sideboard: -1 Crop Rotation; +1 Scavenging Ooze
Game Two he mulls to four and is never really in it.
1-0; 2-0
Round Two: Josh ? with U/W Stoneblade
Game One he STP'd my Priest on turn two, Snapcasters the STP on my Symbiote on turn three, plays Elspeth on turn four, and attacks for five. I play another Priest and pass, he pumps Tiago and attacks again. He forces my Glimpse, and I drop the rest of my hand into play. He plays Stoneforge - fetching Jitte - pumps Snapcaster and attacks me to 5. I untap, play Gaea's Cradle and Mirror Entity, and attack for 130.
Sideboard: -1 Quirion Ranger; +1 Qasali Pridemage
Game Two was much more of a grind - he Forced my Glimpse on turn 3; then after I dumped my hand on turn 4, Forced the Mirror Entity; then plays a Sword of Fire and Ice and Sower of Temptation turn seven to steal my Quirion Ranger. I untap, play Pendelhaven, then attack with two Symbiotes and a Nettle Sentinel. He blocks both Symbiotes, and I activate Pendelhaven on the Symbiote blocked by the Sower. He takes two and goes to 4. He looks at his top card and concedes.
2-0; 4-0
Round Three: Sean Ryan with Reanimator
Game One he went turn three Iona, name green. I was still drawing live to a Mirror Entity, but he Entombed and Exhumed Elesh Norn.
Sideboard: -2 Glimpse of Nature, -1 Crop Rotation, -1 Viridian Shaman, -1 Quirion Ranger; +3 Faerie Macabre, +1 Surgical Extraction, +1 Scavenging Ooze
Game Two he Forces my Zenith for two, then Entombs Elesh Norn. I don't draw any of my graveyard hate, and he Reanimates it the next turn.
2-1; 4-2
Round Four: Zachary Eagle with Death and Taxes
Game One I played Zenith for one on turn 3, he responds with Aven Mindsensor. I'm able to find a Quirion Ranger, but that slows me down enough so that I lose to two Aven Mindsensors with Swords.
Sideboard: -1 Quirion Ranger; +1 Qasali Pridemage
Games Two and Three I combo off on turns three and four, respectively.
3-1; 6-3
Round Five: Jesse Mason with Craterhoof Behemoth Elves
Game One he kills me on turn three with double Glimpse.
Sideboard: -1 Viridian Shaman; +1 Mortarpod
Game Two my opening hand is Dryad Arbor, Gaea's Cradle, Glimpse, Symbiote, Visionary, Birchlore Rangers, Nettle Sentinel. I kept, played Dryad Arbor and said go. He played a Fyndhorn Elves, I drew a second Sentinel for the turn and killed him on turn two.
Game Three we both keep hands without Glimpse, so it comes down to the most Symbiote activations. I win the race, and kill him.
4-1; 8-4
Round Six: Henry Romero with Merfolk
Game One he concedes to my Regal Force for twelve with thirteen mana floating.
Sideboard: -1 Crop Rotation, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Fyndhorn Elves; +3 Meekstone
Game Two I couldn't find Glimpse after playing Visionary and two Symbiote activations (bouncing and replaying the Visionary), so I play Regal Force for twelve. Don't find a Glimpse or Mirror Entity. Zenith for one, find the third Symbiote, bounce and replay the Visionary. Draw Zenith. Play Zenith again, find the last Symbiote. Return and replay the Visionary, finally draw the Glimpse. I play it and win from there.
5-1; 10-4
Round Seven: Quinton Ewing with Belcher
Game One he plays Empty the Warrens for sixteen goblins on turn one. I didn't draw the Glimpse I needed in my two draw steps and lost.
Sideboard: -1 Viridian Shaman, -2 Glimpse of Nature, -1 Quirion Ranger, -1 Priest of Titania; +4 Thorn of Amethyst, +1 Gaddock Teeg
Game Two we both double mulligan, and he plays double Empty the Warrens for 34 goblins on turn four. I untap, draw Teeg, and concede.
5-2; 10-6
Round Eight: Francis Yao with RUG Delver
Game One he doesn't have a turn one play, and loses on turn three.
Sideboard: -1 Viridian Shaman, -1 Crop Rotation, -1 Birchlore Rangers; +3 Meekstone
Game Two the Nimble Mongoose he plays on turn 1 almost gets him there, but he scoops to a Regal Force for seven with an untapped Gaea's Cradle.
6-2; 12-6
-------------------
The last minute adjustment to Surgical over the fourth Faerie Macabre was probably a mistake. The only time that I actually brought it in was against Reanimator, and the Macabre is clearly better anyway. It should probably be a second Scavenging Ooze, and in future versions, I'll probably bring the one in the Sideboard into the main. One card that a friend reccommended for the sideboard was Ground Seal. I'm not sure how much I like it, but I'll give it a shot.
As for the matches themselves, the keep in Game Two of the Elf mirror was pretty loose, I will grant you, but I justified it by the fact that he couldn't kill me turn one, and if I drew any 1cc creature, I could probably win. I kept boarding out Quirion Ranger because it always felt like the weakest card in the deck - probably just a remnant of my previous version. I'm not sure if it was right, although in all of my games, I only saw an actual sideboard card twice (Pridemage against Stoneblade, Teeg against Belcher), so it didn't matter all that much.
Additionally, for anyone that picks up the deck, I will state this as loud as I possibly can: Keep track of your triggers! I almost lost the Merfolk match because I missed a ton of Sentinel triggers. I can't really blame that on anyone but myself, and I think the only reason that I won that game is because that matchup is miserable for Merfolk if they don't have a ton of lords.
I think this is the list...
It's the 9th deck down, second from the bottom.
Although, correct me if I'm wrong.
Nihil Spellbomb
Dispeller's Capsule
Executioner's Capsule
1 Inferno Titan
2 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Primeval Titan
4 Overgrown Battlement
3 Trap
Side:
3 Acidic Slime
1 Terastodon
1 Rampaging Baloths
2 Gaea's Revenge
1 Trap
Also, Acidic Slime to destroy their Valakuts.
2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Arbor Elf
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Explore
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
20 Forest
3 Pelakka Wurm
4 Naturalize
4 Fog
4 Ancient Stirrings