i'm finding clone to be a good enough sideboard answer for thragtusk. you can at least gain life and blockers to delay the game. the 1:1 will also force them to play out their restoration angels to try to gain an advantage, then you can wipe the board.
Not a bad list. However, why run 2 O-ring and 2 Orb over 4 Orb. Also why Dungeon Geist over more snapcaster or a third finisher.
the split is for opposing orbs. that part is of course theoretical and 4 orbs would normally be better. but until the meta is known, i'd rather have a way to free my walkers or creatures if necessary.
dungeon geist is there as an additional pseudo removal. i believe that point "removal" is key to getting your opponents to overextend into a terminus/verdict and geist is actually a very good prison creature which you can also beat with. snapcaster is a card that i personally don't want to draw too early. the cards i want to flashback most of the time are dissipate/rewind, sphinx's revelation and verdict/terminus. that would require at least 5 mana to flashback with snapcaster, making early draws dead in my hand. 2-3 has been perfect for me with this list.
Lastly, azorius charm is better than a vapor snag, your bouncing a creature, getting card advantage and pushing them back a turn while they recast and wait for summoning sickness (same as vapor snag I know but some people underestimate this 2 turn delay). I have had people spend 6 turns trying to attack me with a fatty while I charm and then snapcaster a charm again.
You can qoute me on this, azorius charm is the new vapor snag.
true. except vapor snag was mostly played in delver which is a tempo deck a straight up control deck needs more permanent answers i think and izzet charm is more flexible with every ability being useful in control. either way, there is a big chance that i won't be running any charms main deck to have pillar of flame G1 seeing as how zombies is going to be so popular. we'll see.
Does pithing needle stop thragtusks ETB and LTB effects? I thought it only stops activated abilities. Card makes me want to side out orbs for a 4 set of counterflux or something cuz atm its either counter this guy or prepare to 2 for 1 him (and a poor 2 for 1 as they gained 5 already)
no it doesn't as those are triggered. at the moment i think countering is really the only 1:1 answer to thragtusk.
the sideboard is still theoretical. bg/jund zombies will likely be rampant in the new standard, as will some form of selesnya/junk tokens and delver. the deck has played out well in testing so far against most aggro decks though, with zombies being its most difficult match-up G1 due to GY recursion. pillar of flame might work better main deck in place of izzet charm in that case.
the deck also needs more options against control mirrors which i am expecting to be in any combination of U, W and R. it also remains to be seen whether there will be a need to sideboard against izzet burn decks as goblin electromancer and guttersnipe could make quite the deck.
as for azorius charm, i started out with it actually and was unimpressed. a control deck needs more permanent answers to problems, which makes izzet charm a better fit in control. azorius charm would be of much better use in a UW aggro deck like in some form of delver where the tempo utility would make a bigger difference.
BG zombies is more consistent for me. i'm only really missing pillar of flame from red in the mirror, but there are other alternatives. here's what i have so far:
not sure what else should be in the sideboard for now. bg/jund zombies will likely be rampant in the new standard, as will some form of selesnya/junk tokens and delver. the deck has played out well in testing so far against most aggro decks though, with zombies being its most difficult match-up G1 due to GY recursion. pillar of flame might work better main deck in place of izzet charm in that case.
the deck also needs more options against control mirrors which i am expecting to be in any combination of U, W and R. it also remains to be seen whether there will be a need to sideboard against izzet burn decks as goblin electromancer and guttersnipe could make quite the deck.
and before anyone asks about azorius charm, i started out with it actually and was unimpressed. a control deck needs more permanent answers to problems, which makes izzet charm a better fit in control. azorius charm would be of much better use in a UW aggro deck like in some form of delver where the tempo utility would make a bigger difference.
i've been testing a 3-3 split between olivia and bloodline keeper for a few days now instead of the previous 2-4 split and i have to say that the results are pretty good.
i may also switch markov blademaster to rakish heir. blademaster's main early defense is the first strike clause of her doublestrike. we already get first strike from captain however so blademaster ends up being useless a lot of the time, especially when there's more than a 1/1 creature on the other side to block it.
1. i have a sorin, lord of innistrad in play with 6 loyalty points and use his 3rd ability, thereby killing him. then i cast another sorin from my hand. can i still use his +1 ability even if i already used an ability from the previous sorin card on the same turn? what about if the one i play from my hand is sorin markov instead?
2. do the effects of "until end of turn" abilities wear off after damage is removed from a creature at end of turn? for instance, if i have a wolfbitten captivep pumped up to a 3/3 that trades with a 1/1 token, does the 1 damage on it disappear before the +2/+2 wears off?
At times Bloodcrazed Neonate would annoy me because by its second or third swing it was swinging into its own death. For that reason plus to help clear the path for my other creatures I added the Doom Blade and Go for the Throat.
i agree. neonate can be decent against control but is pretty much useless most of the time against aggro and midrange, which happen to be the dominant archetypes post DKA.
I typically didn't get to use Olivia Voldaren to her full capabilities but she was effective none the less.
given the lack of good 1 and 2 drops, vampires is pressed to be more midrange than aggro. olivia has been excellent against everything i've come against so far as long as she sticks. she's especially good against tokens and humans, 2 of the most popular decks at the moment. i'm still deciding if she should have more than 2 slots.
Falkenrath Marauders proved to be a suprising good card as time went along. I typically got the pump bonus on its first swing and it would end up becoming the finisher or it would bring all the attention to it allowing my other creatures to finish you off.
yup yup. stromkirk captain is the card that is giving vampires a chance at being competitive at all in the new standard.
I'm on the fence on Falkenrath Aristocrat. That 1 toughness scares me plus i don't want to be continuously sac'ing my own stuff giving up board position to keep her alive, plus im not running humas so that negates the bonus.
i had the same opinion but i tried it anyway just to cover all bases. i am here to report that my opinion has not changed. lol
I'm also undecided on Markov Blasmaster. Once again that one toughness scares me and i have doubts on how long it would actually stay on the board. Plus, we have a bunch of 3 drops now and personally value Rakish Heir and Stromkirk Captain over it. I think 2 3drops is enough.
i'm not sold on blademaster either. i would rather have it than rakish heir at the moment though. blademaster at least forces your opponent to have a blocker and can scare off smaller creatures from attacking you. heir comes down as a pseudo lord with no immediate benefit and cannot attack or block most of the time because it can't protect itself. so for now, i would run blademaster and captain in the 3 drop slot.
haven't thought out a sideboard yet. i'm currently thinking of playing around with the number of bloodline keepers and olivia voldarens. maybe a 3-3 split. i'm also not sure about blasphemous act. i might run undying evil in its place and leave the sweepers for the sideboard.
I have recently started playing the high tides deck, and i find it very satisfying, it's challenging to play and loads of fun. the only problem i've got is that once i get to the stage where I go off, the combo itself takes a really long time to go through before I win. Is this a normal problem, or is it going to fix itself when I become more comfortable with the deck? I understand all of the mechanics and tricks of the deck and once the combo goes off I usually win, but it's just so time consuming. I would hate to have a win in my pocket, but eventually lose to going over the time limit in tournaments. Any tips or opinions about this?
the answer is generally yes to both of your first 2 questions. i'm usually not too worried about the time though since you get the minimum last 5 turns at the end of the round if ever and only need 1 to win. if you'd like to go faster though, try gauging which decks are susceptible to brain freeze and just use that as your default win condition. winning via blue sun's zenith is usually safer as you get to avoid resets with emrakul or progenitus but it usually takes much much longer to pull off.
Somehow, Thresh pulls 3 colours off with 18 lands, 4 of them being Wasteland. Of course, Green is the tertiary colour by a mile in the latest builds, and this comes at the price of being absolutely screwed by Blood Moon. But hey, 3 colours, 22 lands, and 1+ colourless sources is not necessarily trouble waiting to happen!
tempo thresh doesn't have anything that costs more than 2 sans FoW and the rare 1-2 jace main deck. it's also a tempo deck (pardon the pun) and can afford not dropping anything on its side as long as it's disrupting its opponent. stoneblade is pretty different. it's 3 color mana base is more akin to team america's, but TA is another tempo deck that can disrupt its opponent more than its self disrupting mana base. stoneblade can certainly be 3 colors, even with wasteland. the question is if it's worth it.
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thanks!
the split is for opposing orbs. that part is of course theoretical and 4 orbs would normally be better. but until the meta is known, i'd rather have a way to free my walkers or creatures if necessary.
dungeon geist is there as an additional pseudo removal. i believe that point "removal" is key to getting your opponents to overextend into a terminus/verdict and geist is actually a very good prison creature which you can also beat with. snapcaster is a card that i personally don't want to draw too early. the cards i want to flashback most of the time are dissipate/rewind, sphinx's revelation and verdict/terminus. that would require at least 5 mana to flashback with snapcaster, making early draws dead in my hand. 2-3 has been perfect for me with this list.
true. except vapor snag was mostly played in delver which is a tempo deck
no it doesn't as those are triggered. at the moment i think countering is really the only 1:1 answer to thragtusk.
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
6 Island
1 Mountain
3 Plains
Creatures 6
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Dungeon Geists
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Planeswalkers 5
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Detention Sphere
2 Oblivion Ring
Spells 18
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Izzet Charm
4 Think Twice
2 Syncopate
2 Dissipate
2 Rewind
1 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Terminus
2 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Pithing Needle
4 Rest in Peace
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Negate
1 Terminus
the sideboard is still theoretical. bg/jund zombies will likely be rampant in the new standard, as will some form of selesnya/junk tokens and delver. the deck has played out well in testing so far against most aggro decks though, with zombies being its most difficult match-up G1 due to GY recursion. pillar of flame might work better main deck in place of izzet charm in that case.
the deck also needs more options against control mirrors which i am expecting to be in any combination of U, W and R. it also remains to be seen whether there will be a need to sideboard against izzet burn decks as goblin electromancer and guttersnipe could make quite the deck.
as for azorius charm, i started out with it actually and was unimpressed. a control deck needs more permanent answers to problems, which makes izzet charm a better fit in control. azorius charm would be of much better use in a UW aggro deck like in some form of delver where the tempo utility would make a bigger difference.
thoughts?
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
8 Swamp
4 Forest
Creatures 24
1 Deathrite Shaman
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Gravecrawler
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Dreg Mangler
3 Disciple of Bolas
2 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
2 Veilborn Ghoul
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Vraska the Unseen
Enchantments 2
2 Rancor
Spells 6
3 Tragic Slip
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Blood Artist
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Pithing Needle
2 Curse of Death's Hold
4 Duress
2 Golgari Charm
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
6 Island
1 Mountain
3 Plains
Creatures 6
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Dungeon Geists
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Planeswalkers 5
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Detention Sphere
2 Oblivion Ring
Spells 18
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Izzet Charm
4 Think Twice
2 Syncopate
2 Dissipate
2 Rewind
1 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Terminus
2 Pithing Needle
4 Rest in Peace
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Terminus
not sure what else should be in the sideboard for now. bg/jund zombies will likely be rampant in the new standard, as will some form of selesnya/junk tokens and delver. the deck has played out well in testing so far against most aggro decks though, with zombies being its most difficult match-up G1 due to GY recursion. pillar of flame might work better main deck in place of izzet charm in that case.
the deck also needs more options against control mirrors which i am expecting to be in any combination of U, W and R. it also remains to be seen whether there will be a need to sideboard against izzet burn decks as goblin electromancer and guttersnipe could make quite the deck.
and before anyone asks about azorius charm, i started out with it actually and was unimpressed. a control deck needs more permanent answers to problems, which makes izzet charm a better fit in control. azorius charm would be of much better use in a UW aggro deck like in some form of delver where the tempo utility would make a bigger difference.
thoughts?
- player 2 blocks the titan with a borderland ranger
- player 2 casts restoration angel targeting the ranger before combat damage
does the titan trample for 4 damage or the full 6?
thanks
i may also switch markov blademaster to rakish heir. blademaster's main early defense is the first strike clause of her doublestrike. we already get first strike from captain however so blademaster ends up being useless a lot of the time, especially when there's more than a 1/1 creature on the other side to block it.
1. i have a sorin, lord of innistrad in play with 6 loyalty points and use his 3rd ability, thereby killing him. then i cast another sorin from my hand. can i still use his +1 ability even if i already used an ability from the previous sorin card on the same turn? what about if the one i play from my hand is sorin markov instead?
2. do the effects of "until end of turn" abilities wear off after damage is removed from a creature at end of turn? for instance, if i have a wolfbitten captivep pumped up to a 3/3 that trades with a 1/1 token, does the 1 damage on it disappear before the +2/+2 wears off?
thanks
i agree. neonate can be decent against control but is pretty much useless most of the time against aggro and midrange, which happen to be the dominant archetypes post DKA.
given the lack of good 1 and 2 drops, vampires is pressed to be more midrange than aggro. olivia has been excellent against everything i've come against so far as long as she sticks. she's especially good against tokens and humans, 2 of the most popular decks at the moment. i'm still deciding if she should have more than 2 slots.
agreed. a good 2-of to top the curve.
yup yup. stromkirk captain is the card that is giving vampires a chance at being competitive at all in the new standard.
i had the same opinion but i tried it anyway just to cover all bases. i am here to report that my opinion has not changed. lol
i'm not sold on blademaster either. i would rather have it than rakish heir at the moment though. blademaster at least forces your opponent to have a blocker and can scare off smaller creatures from attacking you. heir comes down as a pseudo lord with no immediate benefit and cannot attack or block most of the time because it can't protect itself. so for now, i would run blademaster and captain in the 3 drop slot.
and here's my list for reference:
4 blackcleave cliffs
4 dragonskull summit
9 mountain
7 swamp
creatures
4 stromkirk noble
4 vampire interloper
4 markov blademaster
4 stromkirk captain
4 bloodline keeper
2 olivia voldaren
2 falkenrath marauders
4 tragic slip
4 incinerate
2 vampiric fury
2 blasphemous act
haven't thought out a sideboard yet. i'm currently thinking of playing around with the number of bloodline keepers and olivia voldarens. maybe a 3-3 split. i'm also not sure about blasphemous act. i might run undying evil in its place and leave the sweepers for the sideboard.
the answer is generally yes to both of your first 2 questions. i'm usually not too worried about the time though since you get the minimum last 5 turns at the end of the round if ever and only need 1 to win. if you'd like to go faster though, try gauging which decks are susceptible to brain freeze and just use that as your default win condition. winning via blue sun's zenith is usually safer as you get to avoid resets with emrakul or progenitus but it usually takes much much longer to pull off.
tempo thresh doesn't have anything that costs more than 2 sans FoW and the rare 1-2 jace main deck. it's also a tempo deck (pardon the pun) and can afford not dropping anything on its side as long as it's disrupting its opponent. stoneblade is pretty different. it's 3 color mana base is more akin to team america's, but TA is another tempo deck that can disrupt its opponent more than its self disrupting mana base. stoneblade can certainly be 3 colors, even with wasteland. the question is if it's worth it.