I really am trying to do this at least weekly and it has been less than a week so I must be doing something right.
Since my last post I have put up Verbrannt Ranken on TMD (The Mana Drain) and recieved not much feedback actually. Of the few comments there are, most are correcting my German. I do have a couple of people on my side though which is great and I even have a post from someone stating (on a different thread altogether) that my list is a starting point for looking at storm in the current metagame which is fantastic. I have updated my list slightly (only 2 changes)
-1 Fact or Fiction
-1 Ponder
+1 Lion's Eye Diamond
+1 Demonic Consultation
I really had to think about cutting both those cards as they have been so great for me in the couple of weeks testing but I do like the two cards I am bringing in and unfortunately the two I am taking out seem the weakest. I was tempted to keep Ponder and lose Brainstorm but it seemed too much of a Sacred Cow. Maybe it was the wrong choice but I am going to keep a tally from here out, whenever I draw a Brainstorm I will question whether it would have been better as a Ponder. If this number is High enough I will swap them back. I still need to work out the sideboard properly as it still is not finished.
I have gotten the "we're interested" from another store regarding the Melbourne Eternal Series. Nothing has really been worked on yet, I have an idea about how I would like it to run but I need to talk to the stores in question. I am speaking to Adam tomorrow. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to contact me at eternal.melbourne@gmail.com
I gotta run now so today is a short one but cya
Keep Eternal Strong
News, stories, and muses from the Magic: The Gathering vintage community
Thursday 11 October 2012
Sunday 7 October 2012
Verbrannt Ranken
Back again guys
Today I have finished my initial building, goldfishing and testing of my take on the Burning Wish Tendrils deck.
With the unrestriction of Burning Wish, I have built, goldfished and tested a list I would be happy to take to a tournament. It is not yet optimized, the sideboard not fully complete but it certainly is the start of a powerful tournament worthy deck. The deck allows some of my favourite things: Casting targeted discard, Drawing cards and solving puzzles
The list is:
Lands
4 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
Artifacts
1 Black Lotus
2 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
2 Mox Opal
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
Creatures
2 Simian Spirit Guide
Enchantments
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
Instants
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Flusterstorm
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Vampiric Tutor
Sorceries
4 Burning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
1 Mind's Desire
1 Ponder
1 Regrowth
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
Sideboard
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Pyroclasm
1 Thoughseize
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shattering Spree
2 Ravenous Trap
4 Xantid Swarm
The list is very powerful, entirely capable of "going broken" with a number of different ways of storming off without the opponent getting a say in anything, often though a piece of disruption thanks to your Duress' and Flusterstorm. The multitude of Draw 7's mean that your opponent is only keeping their opening hand every other game (when your on the play) and even if critical spells are countered, you have several surefire ways of getting back in the game. These cards especially give you the ability to just "win", supplying you with the necessary fuel to keep comboing or to disrupt your opponents. Wheeling away your opponents hand can decimate their plans (especially brutal is a Hurkyl's followed by a Windfall) and keep you alive for the necessary turns to go off. It is also able to run a more controlling (though not preferred) role with multiple Duress effects, Hurkyls etc in order to set up the perfect turn where your opponent is helpless.
The primary route to victory is obviously a lethal number of copies of Tendrils of Agony. The deck has a number of ways to reach this end game and has no strict requirements to begin to combo off. Your end game however, is sure to involve the card Burning Wish (in Game 1). Burning Wish allows you unprecedented access to the cards in your sideboard allowing you to cherry pick what you need for any given situation. Need access to your graveyard> Yawgmoth’s Will, Problem creature > Pyroclasm, problem artefact > Shattering Spree; you get the picture.
One of the main features that draws me to this deck is the pure speed. You are fast, blazingly fast. Where other decks need to pack 6-8 pieces of grave yard hate to survive to turn 3 or so, you can just race the Ichorid player. It even gets better post board when you gain access to the Ravenous Traps, you can fire off a draw 7, watch them dredge their library and exile their GY leaving them with a couple of Narcomoeba’s and then have all the time in the world to finish them off.
You are faster (on average) than some of the other popular storm decks (e.g. Cobra Gush/Bob Tendrils/ Gristlebrand Oath) and your mass of business spells means that control is going to spend more time focusing on stopping you than advancing their own game plan and you run more bombs than they run countersJ . Because of the explosiveness of the deck, you are able to exploit other decks when they are weak (e.g. tapped out for Jace) seemingly out of nowhere.
Your mass of acceleration is a tremendous help in the shops matchup. You can quickly out-mana their prison. The double Hurkyl’s and Rebuild also ensure you always have access to bounce which performs double duty in buying you time and adding storm.
Some of the more different card choices are:
The land base: When I originally build the deck I was using a 2 Sea, 1 Volc, 1 Trops, 1 Badlands + Fetches (Disillusionists mana base) and found that I was having mana problems. Either I would open with a land and a fetch but needed two fetches or just pulling the wrong lands at the wrong time. Then I thought of running City of Brass and found that that worked so well I kept adding more 5 colour lands until I realised my normal mana sources were getting in the way so I went for the full 5 colour mana base. I thought about Glimmervoid over gemstone mine but felt that if I am facing a chalice at 0 from my shops opponent, Glimmervoid basically becomes an unplayable mox. This change has had some other implications (both good and bad) that I will get to later.
Extra Moxen: As I was testing I found that I wanted more Hurkyl’s Recall effects (started at 1) as I was such a dog to shops. Once I upped my recalls, I found myself sitting with an extra one in hand later in the game where I could only play it for a few storm. I also wanted to be able to accelerate past shops lock pieces and I had knew dropping moxen was one of the best ways to do that. I knew diamond was not going to be good enough (only 10 lands to drop) so I went with 4 Chrome Mox. This did not work as I would often open with or draw into multiples and be crippled because I could not play them for mana. With 14 other low cost artefacts I tried Mox Opals (swapping the chrome moxen) but the legendary rule kept screwing me over so I am happy sitting at a 2-2 split each way.
Flusterstorm: When I played at Australian Masters a few weeks back my opponent beat me in an end game scenario because he had a Flusterstorm in his GY in his Will turn completely neutering my ability to stop him. I wanted to have this sort of end game and not completely reliant in Duress to see me through. This card is not completely necessary as I have found once you go off you have enough access to duress when you need it.
Fact or Fiction: I tested Disillusionists list with 3 Facts and 3 Cabals and found Fact to be a completely amazing card. It suits the deck so well, if there were a 61 card minimum rule it would certainly be a second Fact. Once you have your mana set and you are going off, facting into facts is incredible, digging you 5 for the best card/s and setting Y Will up for 1 coloured mana is great. I cut the extras for the additional mana sources but I could certainly see going above the singleton copy.
No tinker Bot: I don’t like Tinker Bot as a play because it gives me an absolutely dead Draw and is does not guarantee you the win the following turn. Jar has only failed me once (will talk about in cobra gush matchup) in testing. Everyother time I have activated a Jar I have won or put me in the winning position (stocked GY and Will in hand etc.)
The card I am most disappointed with is
Brainstorm: I was surprised when I found myself not liking drawing Brainstorm when I did. I cut the fetchland base which meant my only real shuffle effects are tutors. There has been at least twice in testing where I am digging for a draw 7 (for example) and seen mana sources and had to wait the turns to draw through what I put back. I am keeping it in at the moment but it could become fact #2 or any of a number of other cards. I found myself Chrome Moxing a BS more often than I was casting it for full value.
I have tested the Deck against multiple opponents both at the Local store as well as on Cockatrice and multiple different Decks. I did not keep a complete record of each matchset but going from memory:
MUD(Live+ Cockatrice):(even- near favourable)
It’s easily the worst matchup I have tested. My MUD opponent and I go about even in the early testing (die roll is quite important) but as I had more experience over the testing session I believe I started winning more games that I was losing. The Onus however is on the MUD Pilot to consistently lock you down. They are pretty much required to put chalices down at 0 and 2 in the first couple of turns and put down spheres every turn of the game. If they try to land a crucible or smokestack early, or keep a hand that doesn’t sphere + chalice every turn, you can just punish them and win the game on the spot. The multiple Hurkyl’s effects are obviously a great boon in the early game. I beat my opponent through multiple different angles of disruption: Chalice Thorn, Trinisphere, Golem Resistance etc. Your ability to lay down your artefact mana base through a T1 golem is fantastic. Shattering spree from the board (or wished for) is awesome. One game I destroyed 5 artifacts before turn 3 or so.
Dredge(Cockatrice): (Favourable)
Dredge is pretty much a walkover. You are generally faster than their deck (was playing against dread returnless version) and it gets better post board as you bring in Rav Traps and nuke their GY after a Draw 7. I beat my opponent one game because he Dredged his GY after I Wheel him twice and I nuke his GY leaving him with 4 Narcomoeba 5 cards in Library and then I Wish for Pyroclasm GG. I have not tested against a version with dread return but the only difference would be a preference for not passing the turn on a Jar Hand.
Cobra Gush (Live):Favourable
This was only a small testing session but my opponent only won a single game when we had matching Tinkers T1 (mine for Jar and his for BSC), My Jar drew him into a force and I did not have 2 mana sources for Duress then Ritual and my first ritual got countered. Not needing to spend a turn casting a dude really gives me the edge.
Cerebral Assassin (Live):Extremely Favourable
A friend was testing Chromatic Lantern in his old assassin deck (Bob, Welder, Shop, Bazaar) but the games are pretty short and I win most of them (I can’t remember losing but I might have)
Merkfolk (Reel Fish I think)(Live)-Extremely Favourable.
I only lost one game of this testing Session to quadruple lord beats. The dudes make Necro a riskier play but I never felt like I would have any problem with the deck. Daze was a very annoying and multiple Daze effects are annoying but nothing more than that. I have so much mana that Daze is quickly outclassed and drain remains the only real spell of worry however the deck packs Wastes and Caverns meaning UU is not achieved until it’s too late. My deck was able to go off turn 2 through a waste effect and 2 Dazes on the draw.
Grixis(Cockatrice): (?Favourable?)
Grixis is a very good deck and requires discipline to beat. Your best bet is to go off early when they are tapping out for their bobs/Jace etc. An early force can set you back and the longer the games go, the more chance they have of “locking you out”, the onus is however again on your opponent because they are required to keep a counter heavy hand and be lucky enough to keep drawing into forces when you wheel. Misstep is not as bad as I originally thought it would be due to the only cards I generally care for getting countered at 1 are 4 Ritual, 1 A- Call, 1 Brainstorm and VT. This is a low number compared to some other storm builds where the bulk of plays are at 1 mana. Due to the huge amounts of acceleration I don’t run so many 1 drops. I only post favourable because I won more games than my opponent by a fair margin but depending on build Grixis in G1 can be tough. Post board Xantid Swarms come in and just take over the game if they resolve.
Here are a few sample hands from the deck on the play vs the goldfish.
Opening 7:
Simian Spirit Guide
Chrome Mox
Cabal Ritual
Dark Ritual
VT
Duress
Mox Jet
Against Freddy the Goldfish this hand wins turn 3 through a piece of disruption. It is soft to chalice at 1 (which you can Duress) but beats a sphere also. I would keep this in a G1 scenario. I have randomized my hand so these are not cherry picked hands.
T1 20
Jet > Duress, Chrome Mox imprinting Cabal ritual > VT for Necro when necessary.
T2 18
Draw Necro. Ritual > Necro Pay 11 Life
(Burning Wish X 2, Lotus, Forbidden Orchard, Mox Ruby, Duress, Cabal Ritual, Rebuild, Sol Ring, City of Brass, Mox Opal)Keep Lotus, Opal, Ruby, Cabal, Burning Wish, Duress.
T3 5
Duress(1), Lotus (2), Opal(3), Ruby(4), Lotus for black (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBB)(5), Tap Ruby (BBBBR), Burning Wish for Will(BBB)(6), Tap Chrome Mox (BBBB), Play Will (B) (7), Play Lotus (8), Dark Ritual (BBB) (9), Cabal Ritual (BBBB) (10), Tap Opal (BBBBR), Burning Wish (BBB) (11), Crack Lotus (BBBBBB), Duress (BBBBB)(12), Duress (BBBB) (13), Tendrils 14 Copies.
Opening Hand
Burning Wish
Mox Opal
Simian Spirit Guide
Vampiric Tutor
Ponder
Cabal Ritual
Duress
= Mulligan
Time Twister
Forbidden Orchard
Simain Spirit Guide
Black Lotus
Dark Ritual
Here is a risky hand. I would keep it but you can certainly argue that it dies to a Force. As Freddy is a goldfish, he will not force here. Shops/Dredge/Fish this is certainly a keep.
T1 20
Orchard, Lotus (1), Crack Lotus (BBB), Play and Tap Vault (BB3) (2), Tap Orchard (BB3U), Time Twister (BB1) (3), in response Exile SSG (BBR1) + Dark Ritual (BBBBR1) (4)
Draw City of Brass, Burning Wish X 2, Mind’s Desire, Ponder, Sapphire
Sapphire and Tap (BBBBRU1)(5), Ancestral (BBBBR1)
Draw Crypt, Mox Ruby, Simian Spirit Guide
Mana Crypt and Tap (BBBBR3) (6), Mox Ruby and Tap (BBBBRR3) (7), Exile Simain (BBBBRR3), Burning Wish (Thoughseize) (BBBBR2) (8), Thoughtseize (BBBR2) (9), Burning Wish (Tendrils) (BBB1) (10), Tendrils for 11 copies
Final Hand
Wheel of Fortune
Duress
Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual
Sol Ring
Mox Sapphire
City of Brass
This hand offers you two distinct options, the balls to the walls involves fireing off a draw 7 this turn and going from there. I would however advise the Duress turn 1 to ensure your wheel resolves next turn.
T1 20
City of Brass, Duress. Mox Sapphire > Sol Ring
T2 19
Draw Lotus Petal; now that’s a Draw.
Play Petal (1), Tap City and Sol Ring > Wheel (2). In response, Crack petal (B) Dark Ritual (BBB)(3) Dark Ritual (BBBBB)(4)
Draw Duress, Burning Wish, Hurkyl’s Recall, Memory Jar, Mind’s Desire, Regrowth, Vampiric Tutor (our storm plan ends here)
Duress (BBBB), Tap Sapphire Memory Jar
T3 18
Upkeep Tap Jar and cast VT (Lotus)
Draw Emerald, Opal, Orchard, Jet, fact or Fiction, Hukyl’s Recall, Black Lotus, Time Walk.
Play Orchard, Tap Sapphire + Sol Ring Cast Hurkyl’s Recall targeting opponent. Move to second main phase. Play out mana sources (lotus first), Cast Time Walk
T4
Draw Chrome Mox
Tap Opal and Emerald cast Burning Wish (thoughtseize)(1), Tap Jet > Thoughtseize (2). Play Chrome Mox (3) Tap Sapphire + Sol Ring Cast hurkyl’s (1) (4).Play Lotus (5), Sapphire (6), Jet (7), Emerald (8), Opal (9) Sol Ring (10) Chrome Mox(Regrowth) (11) Crack Lotus (UUU), Tap Sol Ring (UUU2) and Chrome Mox (UUU3), Mind’s Desire for 12 copies.
Reveal: Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish x 2, Simian Spirit Guide, Mana Vault, Rebuid, Tinker, Time Twister, 2 Gemstone mine, City of Brass.
From here you can win in an innumerable number of ways. Most basic way is play out mana sources and burning wish for tendrils.
The deck as you can see is certainly powerful and can rip apart opponents not ready for it. I encourage you to pick it up and test it for yourself.
Today I have finished my initial building, goldfishing and testing of my take on the Burning Wish Tendrils deck.
Das Feuer
If I may take a few sentences to explain why I like this deck and why its so powerful. My first Vintage deck ever was 60 slips of ripped of paper worth of Smnemen's TPS deck. Even though I had no idea how to play it properly I knew it was a style of deck that spoke to me. When I first started playing Vintage properly, I was stuck with sub optimal decks (Spellbook instead of moxen) before I set my sights lower (Dark Times) and as I have kept playing, building up my collection I have always kept an eye out for the next combo deck and playing them when I could. I had a good long stint with Cobra Gush before I moved back to more controlling decks.With the unrestriction of Burning Wish, I have built, goldfished and tested a list I would be happy to take to a tournament. It is not yet optimized, the sideboard not fully complete but it certainly is the start of a powerful tournament worthy deck. The deck allows some of my favourite things: Casting targeted discard, Drawing cards and solving puzzles
The list is:
Lands
4 City of Brass
4 Forbidden Orchard
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
Artifacts
1 Black Lotus
2 Chrome Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
2 Mox Opal
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
Creatures
2 Simian Spirit Guide
Enchantments
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
Instants
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Flusterstorm
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Vampiric Tutor
Sorceries
4 Burning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Duress
1 Mind's Desire
1 Ponder
1 Regrowth
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
Sideboard
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Pyroclasm
1 Thoughseize
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shattering Spree
2 Ravenous Trap
4 Xantid Swarm
The list is very powerful, entirely capable of "going broken" with a number of different ways of storming off without the opponent getting a say in anything, often though a piece of disruption thanks to your Duress' and Flusterstorm. The multitude of Draw 7's mean that your opponent is only keeping their opening hand every other game (when your on the play) and even if critical spells are countered, you have several surefire ways of getting back in the game. These cards especially give you the ability to just "win", supplying you with the necessary fuel to keep comboing or to disrupt your opponents. Wheeling away your opponents hand can decimate their plans (especially brutal is a Hurkyl's followed by a Windfall) and keep you alive for the necessary turns to go off. It is also able to run a more controlling (though not preferred) role with multiple Duress effects, Hurkyls etc in order to set up the perfect turn where your opponent is helpless.
The primary route to victory is obviously a lethal number of copies of Tendrils of Agony. The deck has a number of ways to reach this end game and has no strict requirements to begin to combo off. Your end game however, is sure to involve the card Burning Wish (in Game 1). Burning Wish allows you unprecedented access to the cards in your sideboard allowing you to cherry pick what you need for any given situation. Need access to your graveyard> Yawgmoth’s Will, Problem creature > Pyroclasm, problem artefact > Shattering Spree; you get the picture.
One of the main features that draws me to this deck is the pure speed. You are fast, blazingly fast. Where other decks need to pack 6-8 pieces of grave yard hate to survive to turn 3 or so, you can just race the Ichorid player. It even gets better post board when you gain access to the Ravenous Traps, you can fire off a draw 7, watch them dredge their library and exile their GY leaving them with a couple of Narcomoeba’s and then have all the time in the world to finish them off.
You are faster (on average) than some of the other popular storm decks (e.g. Cobra Gush/Bob Tendrils/ Gristlebrand Oath) and your mass of business spells means that control is going to spend more time focusing on stopping you than advancing their own game plan and you run more bombs than they run countersJ . Because of the explosiveness of the deck, you are able to exploit other decks when they are weak (e.g. tapped out for Jace) seemingly out of nowhere.
Your mass of acceleration is a tremendous help in the shops matchup. You can quickly out-mana their prison. The double Hurkyl’s and Rebuild also ensure you always have access to bounce which performs double duty in buying you time and adding storm.
Some of the more different card choices are:
The land base: When I originally build the deck I was using a 2 Sea, 1 Volc, 1 Trops, 1 Badlands + Fetches (Disillusionists mana base) and found that I was having mana problems. Either I would open with a land and a fetch but needed two fetches or just pulling the wrong lands at the wrong time. Then I thought of running City of Brass and found that that worked so well I kept adding more 5 colour lands until I realised my normal mana sources were getting in the way so I went for the full 5 colour mana base. I thought about Glimmervoid over gemstone mine but felt that if I am facing a chalice at 0 from my shops opponent, Glimmervoid basically becomes an unplayable mox. This change has had some other implications (both good and bad) that I will get to later.
Extra Moxen: As I was testing I found that I wanted more Hurkyl’s Recall effects (started at 1) as I was such a dog to shops. Once I upped my recalls, I found myself sitting with an extra one in hand later in the game where I could only play it for a few storm. I also wanted to be able to accelerate past shops lock pieces and I had knew dropping moxen was one of the best ways to do that. I knew diamond was not going to be good enough (only 10 lands to drop) so I went with 4 Chrome Mox. This did not work as I would often open with or draw into multiples and be crippled because I could not play them for mana. With 14 other low cost artefacts I tried Mox Opals (swapping the chrome moxen) but the legendary rule kept screwing me over so I am happy sitting at a 2-2 split each way.
Flusterstorm: When I played at Australian Masters a few weeks back my opponent beat me in an end game scenario because he had a Flusterstorm in his GY in his Will turn completely neutering my ability to stop him. I wanted to have this sort of end game and not completely reliant in Duress to see me through. This card is not completely necessary as I have found once you go off you have enough access to duress when you need it.
Fact or Fiction: I tested Disillusionists list with 3 Facts and 3 Cabals and found Fact to be a completely amazing card. It suits the deck so well, if there were a 61 card minimum rule it would certainly be a second Fact. Once you have your mana set and you are going off, facting into facts is incredible, digging you 5 for the best card/s and setting Y Will up for 1 coloured mana is great. I cut the extras for the additional mana sources but I could certainly see going above the singleton copy.
No tinker Bot: I don’t like Tinker Bot as a play because it gives me an absolutely dead Draw and is does not guarantee you the win the following turn. Jar has only failed me once (will talk about in cobra gush matchup) in testing. Everyother time I have activated a Jar I have won or put me in the winning position (stocked GY and Will in hand etc.)
The card I am most disappointed with is
Brainstorm: I was surprised when I found myself not liking drawing Brainstorm when I did. I cut the fetchland base which meant my only real shuffle effects are tutors. There has been at least twice in testing where I am digging for a draw 7 (for example) and seen mana sources and had to wait the turns to draw through what I put back. I am keeping it in at the moment but it could become fact #2 or any of a number of other cards. I found myself Chrome Moxing a BS more often than I was casting it for full value.
Der Kampf
I have tested the Deck against multiple opponents both at the Local store as well as on Cockatrice and multiple different Decks. I did not keep a complete record of each matchset but going from memory:
MUD(Live+ Cockatrice):(even- near favourable)
It’s easily the worst matchup I have tested. My MUD opponent and I go about even in the early testing (die roll is quite important) but as I had more experience over the testing session I believe I started winning more games that I was losing. The Onus however is on the MUD Pilot to consistently lock you down. They are pretty much required to put chalices down at 0 and 2 in the first couple of turns and put down spheres every turn of the game. If they try to land a crucible or smokestack early, or keep a hand that doesn’t sphere + chalice every turn, you can just punish them and win the game on the spot. The multiple Hurkyl’s effects are obviously a great boon in the early game. I beat my opponent through multiple different angles of disruption: Chalice Thorn, Trinisphere, Golem Resistance etc. Your ability to lay down your artefact mana base through a T1 golem is fantastic. Shattering spree from the board (or wished for) is awesome. One game I destroyed 5 artifacts before turn 3 or so.
Dredge(Cockatrice): (Favourable)
Dredge is pretty much a walkover. You are generally faster than their deck (was playing against dread returnless version) and it gets better post board as you bring in Rav Traps and nuke their GY after a Draw 7. I beat my opponent one game because he Dredged his GY after I Wheel him twice and I nuke his GY leaving him with 4 Narcomoeba 5 cards in Library and then I Wish for Pyroclasm GG. I have not tested against a version with dread return but the only difference would be a preference for not passing the turn on a Jar Hand.
Cobra Gush (Live):Favourable
This was only a small testing session but my opponent only won a single game when we had matching Tinkers T1 (mine for Jar and his for BSC), My Jar drew him into a force and I did not have 2 mana sources for Duress then Ritual and my first ritual got countered. Not needing to spend a turn casting a dude really gives me the edge.
Cerebral Assassin (Live):Extremely Favourable
A friend was testing Chromatic Lantern in his old assassin deck (Bob, Welder, Shop, Bazaar) but the games are pretty short and I win most of them (I can’t remember losing but I might have)
Merkfolk (Reel Fish I think)(Live)-Extremely Favourable.
I only lost one game of this testing Session to quadruple lord beats. The dudes make Necro a riskier play but I never felt like I would have any problem with the deck. Daze was a very annoying and multiple Daze effects are annoying but nothing more than that. I have so much mana that Daze is quickly outclassed and drain remains the only real spell of worry however the deck packs Wastes and Caverns meaning UU is not achieved until it’s too late. My deck was able to go off turn 2 through a waste effect and 2 Dazes on the draw.
Grixis(Cockatrice): (?Favourable?)
Grixis is a very good deck and requires discipline to beat. Your best bet is to go off early when they are tapping out for their bobs/Jace etc. An early force can set you back and the longer the games go, the more chance they have of “locking you out”, the onus is however again on your opponent because they are required to keep a counter heavy hand and be lucky enough to keep drawing into forces when you wheel. Misstep is not as bad as I originally thought it would be due to the only cards I generally care for getting countered at 1 are 4 Ritual, 1 A- Call, 1 Brainstorm and VT. This is a low number compared to some other storm builds where the bulk of plays are at 1 mana. Due to the huge amounts of acceleration I don’t run so many 1 drops. I only post favourable because I won more games than my opponent by a fair margin but depending on build Grixis in G1 can be tough. Post board Xantid Swarms come in and just take over the game if they resolve.
Die Macht
Here are a few sample hands from the deck on the play vs the goldfish.
Opening 7:
Simian Spirit Guide
Chrome Mox
Cabal Ritual
Dark Ritual
VT
Duress
Mox Jet
Against Freddy the Goldfish this hand wins turn 3 through a piece of disruption. It is soft to chalice at 1 (which you can Duress) but beats a sphere also. I would keep this in a G1 scenario. I have randomized my hand so these are not cherry picked hands.
T1 20
Jet > Duress, Chrome Mox imprinting Cabal ritual > VT for Necro when necessary.
T2 18
Draw Necro. Ritual > Necro Pay 11 Life
(Burning Wish X 2, Lotus, Forbidden Orchard, Mox Ruby, Duress, Cabal Ritual, Rebuild, Sol Ring, City of Brass, Mox Opal)Keep Lotus, Opal, Ruby, Cabal, Burning Wish, Duress.
T3 5
Duress(1), Lotus (2), Opal(3), Ruby(4), Lotus for black (BBB), Cabal Ritual (BBBB)(5), Tap Ruby (BBBBR), Burning Wish for Will(BBB)(6), Tap Chrome Mox (BBBB), Play Will (B) (7), Play Lotus (8), Dark Ritual (BBB) (9), Cabal Ritual (BBBB) (10), Tap Opal (BBBBR), Burning Wish (BBB) (11), Crack Lotus (BBBBBB), Duress (BBBBB)(12), Duress (BBBB) (13), Tendrils 14 Copies.
Opening Hand
Burning Wish
Mox Opal
Simian Spirit Guide
Vampiric Tutor
Ponder
Cabal Ritual
Duress
= Mulligan
Time Twister
Forbidden Orchard
Simain Spirit Guide
Black Lotus
Dark Ritual
Here is a risky hand. I would keep it but you can certainly argue that it dies to a Force. As Freddy is a goldfish, he will not force here. Shops/Dredge/Fish this is certainly a keep.
T1 20
Orchard, Lotus (1), Crack Lotus (BBB), Play and Tap Vault (BB3) (2), Tap Orchard (BB3U), Time Twister (BB1) (3), in response Exile SSG (BBR1) + Dark Ritual (BBBBR1) (4)
Draw City of Brass, Burning Wish X 2, Mind’s Desire, Ponder, Sapphire
Sapphire and Tap (BBBBRU1)(5), Ancestral (BBBBR1)
Draw Crypt, Mox Ruby, Simian Spirit Guide
Mana Crypt and Tap (BBBBR3) (6), Mox Ruby and Tap (BBBBRR3) (7), Exile Simain (BBBBRR3), Burning Wish (Thoughseize) (BBBBR2) (8), Thoughtseize (BBBR2) (9), Burning Wish (Tendrils) (BBB1) (10), Tendrils for 11 copies
Final Hand
Wheel of Fortune
Duress
Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual
Sol Ring
Mox Sapphire
City of Brass
This hand offers you two distinct options, the balls to the walls involves fireing off a draw 7 this turn and going from there. I would however advise the Duress turn 1 to ensure your wheel resolves next turn.
T1 20
City of Brass, Duress. Mox Sapphire > Sol Ring
T2 19
Draw Lotus Petal; now that’s a Draw.
Play Petal (1), Tap City and Sol Ring > Wheel (2). In response, Crack petal (B) Dark Ritual (BBB)(3) Dark Ritual (BBBBB)(4)
Draw Duress, Burning Wish, Hurkyl’s Recall, Memory Jar, Mind’s Desire, Regrowth, Vampiric Tutor (our storm plan ends here)
Duress (BBBB), Tap Sapphire Memory Jar
T3 18
Upkeep Tap Jar and cast VT (Lotus)
Draw Emerald, Opal, Orchard, Jet, fact or Fiction, Hukyl’s Recall, Black Lotus, Time Walk.
Play Orchard, Tap Sapphire + Sol Ring Cast Hurkyl’s Recall targeting opponent. Move to second main phase. Play out mana sources (lotus first), Cast Time Walk
T4
Draw Chrome Mox
Tap Opal and Emerald cast Burning Wish (thoughtseize)(1), Tap Jet > Thoughtseize (2). Play Chrome Mox (3) Tap Sapphire + Sol Ring Cast hurkyl’s (1) (4).Play Lotus (5), Sapphire (6), Jet (7), Emerald (8), Opal (9) Sol Ring (10) Chrome Mox(Regrowth) (11) Crack Lotus (UUU), Tap Sol Ring (UUU2) and Chrome Mox (UUU3), Mind’s Desire for 12 copies.
Reveal: Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish x 2, Simian Spirit Guide, Mana Vault, Rebuid, Tinker, Time Twister, 2 Gemstone mine, City of Brass.
From here you can win in an innumerable number of ways. Most basic way is play out mana sources and burning wish for tendrils.
The deck as you can see is certainly powerful and can rip apart opponents not ready for it. I encourage you to pick it up and test it for yourself.
Monday 1 October 2012
MES + Masters Results
Preamble+ MES
WOW, it has been so long since I posted on here. Sorry about that, from this point forward I will be doing my best to post weekly on here. I have updated the site name and the name of the blog to something a little more respectable as well as start to reveal the MVS in 2013. While nothing has been finalised, I am pushing for NLG (who are on board) and some of the other stores to become a part of the biggest structured tournament system eternal in Melbourne has ever seen (to my knowledge).
The tournament system would be based of the NEV run by Coss, Detweiler etc (excuse spelling) and would involve the preexisting monthly events at any of the participating stores. Each of these monthly tournaments (call it 20 events over the year) would award points to the highest placing attendees and those who managed to make enough points over the year would be given a free invitation to an end of your tournament for real prize support. I believe that this is better than the current situation (particuarly with legacy) where there is a huge saturation, people are pushing for weekly tournaments where I believe players will burn out leading to the "Ill just play next week " syndrome that we have seen in Highlander both with GLabs weeklies and GG's Sundays. I believe that a strong structured system which rewards attendance over time is a much more sound tournament base. Having a once a month tournament, which rewards attendance regardless of placing will surely have more pull on players than "the weekly for credit". The MES would not overtake any tournaments currently held but would settle on any existing tournament that the store involved would choose. As I have said, nothing has been finalised, but I have written to each of the major stores with the proposition. I do hope that this is realised as a Melbourne wide series but that remains to be seen.
Masters
Masters has also come and gone with all my hard work paying off with a whopping 48 players for the Legacy; 32 players for the Vintage and a disappointing 24 for the Highlander, almost exactly the opposite of what we were originally planning back in June. I am going to address each format, what we did right and what we did wrong seperately.
Legacy- Legacy's popularity has been booming since Alexander Johnston started his campaign for more legacy. That campaign was just starting when we were organising dates and Legacy was not much bigger than Vintage. After we finalised dates and time (the Friday Night) legacy started getting bigger and bigger however we were not expecting more than 25 players due to the date and time. Friday night was going to be hard to attend and we did not want to push it back further because then it would end up finishing far too late.
Also the fact that Legacy was only firing small tournaments weighed on my mind. The overwhelming support for the for the tournament was a great way of starting Masters. It was a great tournament with so many great players and I thank everyone who attended and made it the event it was.
We failed the legacy crowd because we underestimated the support that the format had. The Date/Time and prize support were not up to scratch for a long tournament. I believe that we made the tournament a bit to top heavy for the prize support we did give out, and that what we did give out was not enough. I have laid out the reasons why we only expected 25 or so and scheduled it as we did and I believe I am justified in this view, however, if I were to do it again, I would certainly move the event to the Sunday and up the support.
Vintage- Vintage managed to get an awesome 32 players which was fantastic. Beating last year's numbers was my goal for this event as we certainly trumped it. We had 7 different decks in the top 8 with Grixis control taking the top spot by none other than Dan Unwin (who has posted a tidbit on Vintage on starcitygames.com). Oath remains a strong staple for the Melbourne scene posting 18% of all decks (split between GG and Gristlebrand). Surprising though was the under representation of both Workshops and Dredge. Dredge only posted 2 copies and Workshops 5. Dredge has been a mainstay of Melbourne in 2012 so almost the complete absence is unsettling. Worskhops, which Melbourne has been famous for have a strong presence in nearly every tournament for over two years (I myself have faced 2 workshop opponents in 3 rounds at 3 different tournaments this year), were small in number and split between 2 Mono R, 2 MUD and 1 Martello lists. The support for sanctioned Vintage was great and having 32 players does make it miss out on being classified as a large tournament (by 1) but I was happy with the overall tournament.
The Vintage was what we did the best with. Again we underestimated numbers but not by such a great margin as Legacy. Next year, I believe we can still pull players out of the woodwork as well as try and pull in more unpowered /newer players
Highlander- I was very disappointed in the Highlander turnout. Only 24 players made it out to Dandenong despite the highest prize support of any of the tournaments. Of the 24 players, maybe 12 were regular Melbourne players, too many people we thought would turn up did not and we ended up have prize support far greater than the number of players. We had players the week before the tournament ask for it to be changed etc which we could not do in reference to interstate players and already published start times that had been out for 3 months. If these issues had been raised when they were published, they might have been dealt with but the turnout was still far below what was expected.
Highlander unless we get a new surge of players, will certainly be making way for the powerhouse that is Melbourne's Legacy scene.
WOW, it has been so long since I posted on here. Sorry about that, from this point forward I will be doing my best to post weekly on here. I have updated the site name and the name of the blog to something a little more respectable as well as start to reveal the MVS in 2013. While nothing has been finalised, I am pushing for NLG (who are on board) and some of the other stores to become a part of the biggest structured tournament system eternal in Melbourne has ever seen (to my knowledge).
The tournament system would be based of the NEV run by Coss, Detweiler etc (excuse spelling) and would involve the preexisting monthly events at any of the participating stores. Each of these monthly tournaments (call it 20 events over the year) would award points to the highest placing attendees and those who managed to make enough points over the year would be given a free invitation to an end of your tournament for real prize support. I believe that this is better than the current situation (particuarly with legacy) where there is a huge saturation, people are pushing for weekly tournaments where I believe players will burn out leading to the "Ill just play next week " syndrome that we have seen in Highlander both with GLabs weeklies and GG's Sundays. I believe that a strong structured system which rewards attendance over time is a much more sound tournament base. Having a once a month tournament, which rewards attendance regardless of placing will surely have more pull on players than "the weekly for credit". The MES would not overtake any tournaments currently held but would settle on any existing tournament that the store involved would choose. As I have said, nothing has been finalised, but I have written to each of the major stores with the proposition. I do hope that this is realised as a Melbourne wide series but that remains to be seen.
Masters
Masters has also come and gone with all my hard work paying off with a whopping 48 players for the Legacy; 32 players for the Vintage and a disappointing 24 for the Highlander, almost exactly the opposite of what we were originally planning back in June. I am going to address each format, what we did right and what we did wrong seperately.
Legacy- Legacy's popularity has been booming since Alexander Johnston started his campaign for more legacy. That campaign was just starting when we were organising dates and Legacy was not much bigger than Vintage. After we finalised dates and time (the Friday Night) legacy started getting bigger and bigger however we were not expecting more than 25 players due to the date and time. Friday night was going to be hard to attend and we did not want to push it back further because then it would end up finishing far too late.
Also the fact that Legacy was only firing small tournaments weighed on my mind. The overwhelming support for the for the tournament was a great way of starting Masters. It was a great tournament with so many great players and I thank everyone who attended and made it the event it was.
We failed the legacy crowd because we underestimated the support that the format had. The Date/Time and prize support were not up to scratch for a long tournament. I believe that we made the tournament a bit to top heavy for the prize support we did give out, and that what we did give out was not enough. I have laid out the reasons why we only expected 25 or so and scheduled it as we did and I believe I am justified in this view, however, if I were to do it again, I would certainly move the event to the Sunday and up the support.
Vintage- Vintage managed to get an awesome 32 players which was fantastic. Beating last year's numbers was my goal for this event as we certainly trumped it. We had 7 different decks in the top 8 with Grixis control taking the top spot by none other than Dan Unwin (who has posted a tidbit on Vintage on starcitygames.com). Oath remains a strong staple for the Melbourne scene posting 18% of all decks (split between GG and Gristlebrand). Surprising though was the under representation of both Workshops and Dredge. Dredge only posted 2 copies and Workshops 5. Dredge has been a mainstay of Melbourne in 2012 so almost the complete absence is unsettling. Worskhops, which Melbourne has been famous for have a strong presence in nearly every tournament for over two years (I myself have faced 2 workshop opponents in 3 rounds at 3 different tournaments this year), were small in number and split between 2 Mono R, 2 MUD and 1 Martello lists. The support for sanctioned Vintage was great and having 32 players does make it miss out on being classified as a large tournament (by 1) but I was happy with the overall tournament.
The Vintage was what we did the best with. Again we underestimated numbers but not by such a great margin as Legacy. Next year, I believe we can still pull players out of the woodwork as well as try and pull in more unpowered /newer players
Highlander- I was very disappointed in the Highlander turnout. Only 24 players made it out to Dandenong despite the highest prize support of any of the tournaments. Of the 24 players, maybe 12 were regular Melbourne players, too many people we thought would turn up did not and we ended up have prize support far greater than the number of players. We had players the week before the tournament ask for it to be changed etc which we could not do in reference to interstate players and already published start times that had been out for 3 months. If these issues had been raised when they were published, they might have been dealt with but the turnout was still far below what was expected.
Highlander unless we get a new surge of players, will certainly be making way for the powerhouse that is Melbourne's Legacy scene.
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