linvala in the sideboard sounds more legit to replace another sb piece you have against bug. im not really a fan of it in the maindeck since the format has just gotten faster with everyone on the delver bandwagon.
I started out 5-1 at Eternal Weekend before dropping three games in a row and calling it a night instead of playing the final round. I'll post detailed results tomorrow, but I'll say that despite my mediocre finish, the Restos did serious work. They are by no means necessary, but they are absolutely playable.
I finished 7-2-1 at eternal weekend with death and taxes. Good for 21st place. Pretty standard list with 2 brimaz and 2 spirit main. I'll post matchups when I have some more time. Also had the pleasure of battling beside Medea when we were both 5-1.
I started out 5-1 at Eternal Weekend before dropping three games in a row and calling it a night instead of playing the final round. I'll post detailed results tomorrow, but I'll say that despite my mediocre finish, the Restos did serious work. They are by no means necessary, but they are absolutely playable.
Too bad you missed the Top 8. :/ There's always the GP!
My question: even if they are playable, are they worth playing? That is, did they bring enough to the table that they filled a hole we had without them? Or are they still a tertiary card?
Follow up question (and anyone else can chip in): if Restos were good, could we consider going bigger with our Vials? I'm not going to start saying that we're similar to Goblins; however, they often tick their Vials to four for Ringleader and Krenko; even five for Siege-Gang. Couldn't we consider a "Big D&T" build, too? Just a thought.
I finished 7-2-1 at eternal weekend with death and taxes. Good for 21st place. Pretty standard list with 2 brimaz and 2 spirit main. I'll post matchups when I have some more time. Also had the pleasure of battling beside Medea when we were both 5-1.
Good to see that you're back to D&T, friend! Also, congrats on the finish; I would definitely be interested in your list/matches.
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"Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons."
I started out 5-1 at Eternal Weekend before dropping three games in a row and calling it a night instead of playing the final round. I'll post detailed results tomorrow, but I'll say that despite my mediocre finish, the Restos did serious work. They are by no means necessary, but they are absolutely playable.
Too bad you missed the Top 8. :/ There's always the GP!
My question: even if they are playable, are they worth playing? That is, did they bring enough to the table that they filled a hole we had without them? Or are they still a tertiary card?
Follow up question (and anyone else can chip in): if Restos were good, could we consider going bigger with our Vials? I'm not going to start saying that we're similar to Goblins; however, they often tick their Vials to four for Ringleader and Krenko; even five for Siege-Gang. Couldn't we consider a "Big D&T" build, too? Just a thought.
For what it's worth, while I'm against the idea of a "Big Death N Taxes." There are other big mana hate bears. There is also Angel of Finality. I doubt theyre worth it, but its potentially an option if graveyard shenanigans with delve become too much, although its very slow.
I don't think 4 mana 3/4s are where we want to be if Delver continues to be a massive part of the meta game.
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Modern: UWUW TronUW
Legacy: WDeath N TaxesW CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
My opponent's deck was nasty: BUG Delver playing Treasure Cruise and Darkblast as a "combo." In game 1, I assembled the Dust Bowl lock and removed his Deathrite Shaman, leaving him with zero permanents and no ability to cast spells for the rest of the game. In game two, he played a turn one Deathrite, turn two Jitte, and my series of X/1's ate it pretty hard. Given another turn or two, my Restoration Angels and Batterskull would have gotten the job done, but he had four Jitte counters by the time I had four and five mana respectively. In game three, my Restoration Angel ambushed an attacking Delver and put me far ahead; a few turns later, a Batterskull equipped with SoFaI finished the job. In this round, the size of Restoration Angel as a 3/4 and it's ability to block profitably against Delver was fantastic.
Round 2: 0-2 vs Miracles (Paul Lynch)
Paul completely blew me out with sideboard cards in this round. In game two, he got a fused Wear/Tear on Aether Vial and SotL AND an Izzet Staticaster to keep me off my smaller creatures. Restoration Angel was strong and slipped through his counterbalance lock, but he had an Entreat for twenty damage in game one and stabilized with the Staticaster at 7 life in game 2.
Round 3: 2-1 vs ANT
Round three was uneventful, and my hatebears shut him out of the game. I will note that I lost game 2 when he cast an instant speed Ad Nauseum after I ported him during his upkeep. I boarded out Restoration Angels.
Round 4: 2-1 vs Sneak and Show
I lost game one by a series of nut draws from my opponent that involved double Lotus Petal into Sneak attack and the Force of Will for my answer. Games two and three were uneventful. I boarded out Restoration Angels.
Round 5: BUG Delver 2-1
My notes are sparse for this round, but I have "Restoration Angel FTW" written down, so I think I ambushed a Delver in game 1. In game two, I was completely blown out by a Virtue's Ruin, followed by an Engineered Plague; however, as I had a RiP in play, my opponent couldn't close out the game for about 30 turns. In game three, my opponent kept a lose hand and was punished by a SotL. Restoration Angel performed well in this round.
Round 6: Reanimator 2-0
In game one, my opponent conceded after I vialed in a SotL in response to his Careful Study. In game two, my opponent cast a turn two Reanimate for Ashen Rider, placing him at 8 life after his fetching and some other thing that made him lose life. I put a Batterskull in play and raced him...whoops! I boarded out Restoration Angel.
Round 7: Green/Black Dark Depths combo 0-2
In game one, I was a little confused about what deck my opponent was playing. He played Urborg and Inquisition on turn one, making me think he was on Pox, followed by Dark Depths and a second discard spell on turn two. Thinking he was on the Turbo Dark depths build from about six months ago, I played a Revoker on turn two on Vampire Hexmage. In retrospect, he would have just played the Hexmage on turn two if he had it, so I should have named Liliana instead. I was immediately punished and lost game 1 in short order.
In game two, I had clear control of the game and a soft lock in place. My opponent was at two life, and then he dropped a Night of Soul's Betrayal, getting a three for one and shutting off my remaining three creatures in hand. I stopped two or three 20/20 monsters, but eventually succumbed to his Loam Engine. Restoration Angel was average in this matchup. Reusing my Flickerwisp triggers was sweet, but coming down on turn four was rough and a Mirran Crusader would have won me this game.
Round 8: 1-2 vs Burn
My opponent had the nut draw of Goblin Guide into Goblin Guide into Sulfuric Vortex. My Batterskull was irrelevant. In game two, my opponent cast a Volcanic Fallout...luckily my double Mother of Runes board was fine afterwords, but I did not anticipate this card and could have gotten destroyed by it; I won this game at 5 life. In game three, my opponent got another early Sulfuric Vortex, nullifying the life gain from my Batterskull. My opponent won with lethal on board with the top decked Searing Blaze and the land in hand for landfall. Restoration Angel can be cast through Eidolon and lives through Bolt, making it strong in this matchup; however, it does come down on turn 4, making it an ineffective clock for killing my opponent.
Round 9: 0-2 vs Dig through Time BUG Delver
In this round, I played against Oliver, 12-year-old Open series regular. In game one, my opponent curved Deathrite into Goyf into TNN into Wasting one of my two lands. I could have easily swung this game back, but I missed out on land drops for one too many turns and didn't have the chance to resolve my answers. In game two, I mulled to four after not seeing any lands in my first three lands. At this point in the tournament, I knew that this was lights out for me. I played a SotL and passed my turn. He plays a Ponder on his turn. I give him a puzzled look, and let it resolve. At this point, he has seven cards in hand, I think two goyfs in play, and I've got literal nothing. He proceeds to pick a card up off the top of his deck and I am faced with a decision. I can either allow him to draw the card and win an absolutely unwinnable game or stop him right now before he sees the card and it touches his hand. My gut reacts immediately and I yell "CAREFUL CAREFUL CAREFUL" as quickly as I can. My opponent looks at the board, understands the implications of what I just did, and thanks me profusely.
Restoration Angel was offensively strong this round, but a Mirran Crusader would have been the preferable defensive option when I was on the back foot.
At this point in the tournament, a judge friend of mine pulled me aside and requested that I work the Vintage event tomorrow morning, as they were understaffed (the turnout was about 100-150 more people than last year, far surpassing their expected turnout). Given that it was 10:30 and I hadn't had dinner, I opted to drop before the final round to eat and get a decent night's sleep since I would be working in the morning.
Given the events of the day, here are my thoughts on my list based on my match data: Restoration Angel is incredibly strong in the current Delver/Bolt-filled metagame. I ambushed two Delvers in three rounds today, and my BUG opponents claimed that they had zero outs, with the exception of Oliver, who played a single Sultai Charm. Restoration Angel is very weak in the combo matchups, but can easily be sided out for the hate that we normally bring in. While Restoration Angel is strong against Delver, it is obviously much weaker against Goyf than Mirran Crusader in terms of defense. In short, I believe that Restoration Angel is viable metagame choice, but that it is by no means a necessary inclusion in the deck. It shines in the fair, midrange matchups, but suffers in the combo matchups; by going bigger than our opponents, we gain more power and end game strength at the cost of speed.
Dust Bowl is the other thing worthy of discussion. In round one, it obliterated my BUG opponent, leaving him with no permanents. Other than that, I sniped a couple of lands over the course of the day. The Dust Bowl package left me very vulnerable to Price of Progress, and I noticed at one point against Burn that I would have taken twelve damage should my opponent had kept the card in his deck for the post-sideboard games. My opponents unknowingly were playing around Dust Bowl by playing around Wasteland, lessening its effect. Dust Bowl was also a poor way of grinding advantage against Treasure Cruise decks; on the other hand, those decks also run few colored sources, so that is worth consideration.
Thanks for the tournament report, and sorry for your losses in the last few rounds, it looked very promising at first
My opinions of Resto are pretty much on par with yours, and I'm happy to see that Resto has performed well, she's certainly a very good card against UR Delver and other Delver flavors. I usually side out 1 copy of Resto against Burn though, 4 turns is surely quite slow in that matchup even tough she goes through Eidolon, I don't want to see more than one copy per game.
Will you play this list again in the GP? Or will switch to a more traditional list.
One "trick" I use with sideboarding (well not a trick, it's more just common sense) is what whenever I bring my Restos lower than 3 (usually 0 or 1) in those matchups where she's not relevant I side out a Dust Bowl (from 24 lands to 23) because mana requirements aren't as high, and that frees me a slot for more gas and sideboard cards. The matchups where I want Cata and Liege are matchups where Resto are extremely good so there's no problem on that front. With Restos and 24 lands and a sideboard with low curve you can pretty much change your curve post board and that frees up a lot of space and gives your deck a lot of versatility. In the same way against extremely fast combo (ANT), or matchups where land destruction is irrelevant (manaless Dredge), or where Wisps aren't as good either you can go down to 22 land if you need space.
The fairest matchups like BUG, RUG and Jund play extremely well with plenty of mana, utility lands and Restos, and if your meta has plenty of those the winrate goes up a lot with that build.
@Medea
Great report, sorry you hit the bricks in the last few. I know Paul, btw, I play him and his crew basically every week in Legacy and Standard. He's a very canny deck builder and he has a good nose for the meta.
@Barook
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Standard Tempo Modern Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison Legacy
5c Humans DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post...but it does concern D&T
Well...I contacted RK Post to do this Death & Taxes mat for me before Wacon,and he started on the plane and had it done yesterday....I am so excited about this work of art!
Wicked!
Medea:
Great tournament report. Sucks about those losses.
I have resto's, I suppose I should try them out instead of just bugging on them. I really want to go back to Linvala as well, but alas there isn't the room for that many 4 drops.
Still on the Teeg build, but can't say that ANY current build is "the" build for this deck. Once again, the stock, meta dependent answer seems most appropriate
Here's the deck that I brought to eternal weekend. I cut back on revoker to make room for a couple of spirits expecting a lot of treasure cruise/elves/miracles. Brimaz in the main because I was anticipating a lot of red.
His Goblin guides netted me a couple of lands in game one and I kept up pressure with thalia and stoneforge directing his attention towards my creatures until I overwhelm him with thalia and serra avenger. In game two, thalia and port made it difficult for him to do much of anything relevant.
Round 2 : 2-0 vs Enchantress
In game one he casts his enchantress turn two, but thalia, port and wasteland make sure he casts nothing else for the rest of the game. Game two was similar for both of us, turn two thalias and enchantress. Spirit with mom and flickerwisp backup make sure he only draws a single extra card before I kill him.
Round 3 : 0-2 vs Dark Depths Maverick
I'm on the draw, and he accelerates with green's zenith into arbor followed by stoneforge mystic. His jitte gets online a turn before mine can, and there is no recovery. In game two, I get rid of his jitte with council's judgment before it can hurt me too much, and flickerwisp away the 20/20 before I get run over by 10/10 knights.
Round 4 : 2-0 vs U/R Delver
I'm on the draw and his delver hits me a couple of times before I stabilize and get sword of fire and ice online. I don't remember much about game two, but I don't have myself losing any life. I think spirit of the labyrinth was important here.
Round 5 : 2-0 vs Dragon Stompy
I initially have no idea what I'm playing against. Sol lands and mountains? Mono red sneak attack? I let revoker name sneak attack here. He plays a morphed creature and hits me for 5 with hellbent (I don't remember this guy's name). Mana denial, mom, and serra avenger get me there. Game two, he casts a turn one chalice that doesn't really bother me. Mana denial was good again.
Round 6 : 2-1 vs RUG Delver
He's playing a more traditional RUG list with mongoose and stifles. Delver beats me down for several turns until I can protect a stoneforge, get batterskull online, and run away with it. Game two, I mull to 5 and lose rather quickly. Game three was pretty tight with delver beats getting me in bolt range with me presenting lethal on my turn. He doesn't top deck it, and I pull it out.
Round 7 : 2-1 vs Jund
I believe he hit turn one and two throughtseizes before three goyfs made short work of me. I kept a pretty sketchy hand in game two. I plowed a couple deathrites, and I think we wasteland each other. He's left with no lands, me with one and mom leading to a couple turns of draw go until I can cast thalia and attack once or twice with mom. Because why not? He gets a couple of lands eventually but can't do anything against port and thalia. In game three I won with batterskull and I think rest in peace shut him down. He never really threatened me this game and can't recall much else.
Round 8 : 1-1-1 vs Esper Stoneblade
Game one was lengthy with me pecking away at him while trying to keep jitte offline with revoker, and staving off batterskull with flickerwisp. Eventually he treasure cruises. And gets through to kill revoker, and equip jitte on a true name. In game two, I was the aggressor and kept him off balance. I didn't lose any life. We're low on time going into game three and the match goes back and forth a little before we go to time.
Round 9 : 1-2 vs Esper Stoneblade
I lost a long game one after treasure cruises and his equipment overwhelms me. I don't remember much about game two, but I think I win relatively quickly here. Game three I kept a hand similar to plains, vial, stp, 2 stoneforge, thalia, mom. Seems pretty good. Except he casts needle after I land vial, stp on the mom, and I proceed to not draw lands and lose.
Round 10 : 2-0 vs Jund
Thalia and serra avenger knock him down with port back up in game one. In game two I was getting beat down by double deathrite and goyf before I land rest in peace, fight back with a jitte and get there.
Overall, very happy with the deck. Spirits pulled a lot of weight for me, and Brimaz would have been solid if I drew him more. I decided to forego the extra council's judgment, and the lieges i usually run in favor of more crusaders and cataclysm. Crusader didn't do a whole lot, but I think that it is very important to win game one in any b/g match with all the hate they bring in from the side. Crusader is a house against those decks and tilts thing more in our favor. I'm finding hymn and liliana to be a little less prevalent, and liege not pulling the weight he used to. And I like that he slots nicely into the deck for matchups where revoker or spirit is dead.
EDIT :
@Barbed Blightning
I've never really left Death and Taxes, although I'm not active on the boards. I have a few other decks, but this is always my first choice, and I've been putting up pretty good results lately. I lost a win and in a couple of months back in a tournament offering power for the top 8...still a little bitter over that. I hope to see you at the GP. It's been a long time!
@Frenadol I also sided out one land (usually Dust Bowl) when I sided out all three of the Restos. That seemed correct to me. I also would sideboard down to 60 cards in the combo matchups or matchups where it was critical that I drew hate.
@redtwister Paul is a friend of mine also. I lived in College Park, MD before moving to Roanoke, VA, so we played all the time at local legacy events. I stop by Brewport from time to time when I'm in town and play in their weekly events. His Bant deck is probably my favorite of his brews. I will be testing quite a bit before GP:NJ, and I'll play the version of the deck that I believe suits the metagame at the time.
And for the record, AntiquatedNotion's deck is full of foily goodness and was quite the sight to see.
@medea, the more I think about your list, the more I like it. What were your thoughts on 3x spirits and 3x revoker? Would you have rather done 4x and 2x?
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Modern: Modern is Bad
Legacy:WDeath and TaxesW W45-L16-D11 8 Top 8s 15th Scg Oakland
Current Kiln Fiend Count: 153 Please message me if you want to trade me or give me some.
Commission Rezombied to alter some cards, he's awesome!
For those considering Gaddok Teeg in the deck, have you given weathered wayfarer a shot? it helps to shore up some consistency issues with the mana base
@monovfox I don't know if I am comfortable dropping to two Revokers. Three Revokers was perfectly reasonable and likely the correct number for this tournament. It had applications in all my rounds, though it was somewhat weak against BUG and had relatively few applications against Lands and Burn. Yole42 on MODO has cashed the last two dailies and he has been packing the full set of SotL, but still respects the need for about three Revokers in the main; Bahra, I believe, still runs 4 Revokers.
@user_36954 Mikokoro sees play in the Modern version for the deck for that exact reason. I'm not aware of anyone who has tested the card in Legacy, though there was talk of it around the time of SotL's release.
I've been considering dropping my Petrified Field (Wasteland #5) for a Mikokoro since I've gone to 3 Spirit main. I'm pretty sure it's too cute, but might be worth it.
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Legacy: WRDeath and Taxes UWRMiracles UBTezzerator GTrinity GBWRLoam URLandstill
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
@Bosque Is Petrified Field better than a Ghost Quarter if you want a 5th Wasteland?
@Barook I put Manriki back in for the same reason.
@Sunburst Many forum regulars run or have run a single Chalice in the sideboard as part of the tutor package in the past. I don't know if I like running three since it interferes with our own Mom/Vial/StP and we cannot play it on turn one, but the card does certainly pull some weight.
Last Saturday i attended a 'big' tournament here in my city, and i played for the first time aggainst UR delver.
I actually never thought it was such a bad match up for us, but it really is. The TC really crushes our grinding plan, and the dazes prevent us for early disruption. Anyway, here is a quick report of it:
Round 1: Mirror 1-0
We only played 1 really long game (we finished literally at the end of the round), with him getting way ahead of me in lands (i got stuck at 2 plains), and getting 3 active ports which tapped me all the way until i could land an aether vial. Anyway, he only had 2 creatures in play and i managed to sneak 2 mother of runes which made the difference the whole game, since he couldnt find either a revoker, a mom, or double removal. One funny note on restoration is that i managed to cast it in response to his triple port activation, completely shutting down his serra avenger and giving me some more time (i was at 9 and he was at 25). Finally i could land some more lands, mirran crusader, stoneforge for jitte, flickered my revoker (naming jitte), attached to mirran, attack, kill some creatures and name jitte again when revoker landed (he had one jitte in play) for the win.
Round 2: Mirror..... 2-1
Sort of a budget version. No ports and no karakas, but with ghost quarter and leonin arbiter. So no actual threat imo.
Game 1 he rushes to activate an stoneforge (which searched a batterskull) and ghost quarters his own cavern of souls in order to have the second white source to activate it asap. I blocked skull with thalia, protected her with karakas, and flickered the token the next turn. He got stuck at 2 mana. Big missplay of him with the lands. Won the game.
Game 2 he gets the ideal hand with 2 mothers, 2 wastelands, 2 swords and plains, he proceded to draw plains stoneforge. Nothing to do.
Game 3 we both got out with vial and little lands, but i dropped and early stoneforge into batterskull and revoked for vial for a really quick win.
Round 3: Shardless BUG 0-2
Game 1 i started with a good looking hand: Mother, thalia, mirran, resto and 2 lands, but he kept responding to each of my creatures until i landed mirran, but by that time he casted double shardless cascading into double tarmogoyf and started attacking with creeping tar pit. Nothing for me to do.
Game 2 i start out with t2 thalia, he plays dread of night. Next turn i council's his dread and he plays Liliana otv. He activates and i have the biggest missplay (im guessing for not sleeping for 2 days) of not dropping the wilt-leaf liege in my hand and discarding a swords to plowshares. Again, shardless into tarmogoyf and though i played the liege for the second lili activation i could never keep up.
Round 4: Bug Delver
I Dont recall much of this game, except for another missplay, having 4 mana open (he had a flipped delver on play, which revealed a daze and 3 cards in hand) i played serra avenger who got fowed with the daze, and then, assuming he didnt have another daze, rushed a stoneforge mystic which, of course, got dazed. Game for him.
Game 2 i mull to six (i had wasteland and 6 creatures), and i drew wasteland, 4 plains and a vial. I figured id rather keep that. Drew 2 lands, a vial and a liege and got killed. Treasure cruise was amazing for him, even though he played shaman both games.
Round 5: Dragon stompy
Game 1 he doubts a lot about keeping his hand (we both knew each other's decklists), and i figured he didnt had chalice, so i keep a hand with karakas, wastland, canopy, vial and 3 creatures. Of course he got off with chalice for 1 t1, and magus of the moon t2. Even though i managed to drop a batterskull turn 10 (i missed a lot of land drops) and won the game.
Game 2 he drops trini t1, rabblemaster t2, rabllemaster t3, rabblemaster t4 ok gg.
Game 3 we both drop a bunch of creatures but circle of protection red gained some time for me (although i got stuck at 3 lands, with a trinisphere down), and won a really close game hitting with flickerwisp
Round 6: UR Delver
Nothing to say, never stood a chance, even with 2 main spirits. I've got a cop red, thalia, batterskull with germ token and mother in play and he managed to win anyway.
I lost all the dices so i never got to start. Not my best day.
I never missed the SoFai in the main, except for the UR match (in which skull was a fair choice the first match anyway). Resto was great the only game i landed it, so i'll keep him in the mb for the moment. Im also considering the 3 (or maybe 2) revoker main in order to give some space for more SoTL. I dont think going big is going to help things aggainst tempo decks with cruise, i'd rather tax them harder, but i may be wrong.
Also, what's your thought on MD canonist? May be a good time.
Last Saturday i attended a 'big' tournament here in my city, and i played for the first time aggainst UR delver.
I actually never thought it was such a bad match up for us, but it really is. The TC really crushes our grinding plan, and the dazes prevent us for early disruption. Anyway, here is a quick report of it:
Round 1: Mirror 1-0
We only played 1 really long game (we finished literally at the end of the round), with him getting way ahead of me in lands (i got stuck at 2 plains), and getting 3 active ports which tapped me all the way until i could land an aether vial. Anyway, he only had 2 creatures in play and i managed to sneak 2 mother of runes which made the difference the whole game, since he couldnt find either a revoker, a mom, or double removal. One funny note on restoration is that i managed to cast it in response to his triple port activation, completely shutting down his serra avenger and giving me some more time (i was at 9 and he was at 25). Finally i could land some more lands, mirran crusader, stoneforge for jitte, flickered my revoker (naming jitte), attached to mirran, attack, kill some creatures and name jitte again when revoker landed (he had one jitte in play) for the win.
Round 2: Mirror..... 2-1
Sort of a budget version. No ports and no karakas, but with ghost quarter and leonin arbiter. So no actual threat imo.
Game 1 he rushes to activate an stoneforge (which searched a batterskull) and ghost quarters his own cavern of souls in order to have the second white source to activate it asap. I blocked skull with thalia, protected her with karakas, and flickered the token the next turn. He got stuck at 2 mana. Big missplay of him with the lands. Won the game.
Game 2 he gets the ideal hand with 2 mothers, 2 wastelands, 2 swords and plains, he proceded to draw plains stoneforge. Nothing to do.
Game 3 we both got out with vial and little lands, but i dropped and early stoneforge into batterskull and revoked for vial for a really quick win.
Round 3: Shardless BUG 0-2
Game 1 i started with a good looking hand: Mother, thalia, mirran, resto and 2 lands, but he kept responding to each of my creatures until i landed mirran, but by that time he casted double shardless cascading into double tarmogoyf and started attacking with creeping tar pit. Nothing for me to do.
Game 2 i start out with t2 thalia, he plays dread of night. Next turn i council's his dread and he plays Liliana otv. He activates and i have the biggest missplay (im guessing for not sleeping for 2 days) of not dropping the wilt-leaf liege in my hand and discarding a swords to plowshares. Again, shardless into tarmogoyf and though i played the liege for the second lili activation i could never keep up.
Round 4: Bug Delver
I Dont recall much of this game, except for another missplay, having 4 mana open (he had a flipped delver on play, which revealed a daze and 3 cards in hand) i played serra avenger who got fowed with the daze, and then, assuming he didnt have another daze, rushed a stoneforge mystic which, of course, got dazed. Game for him.
Game 2 i mull to six (i had wasteland and 6 creatures), and i drew wasteland, 4 plains and a vial. I figured id rather keep that. Drew 2 lands, a vial and a liege and got killed. Treasure cruise was amazing for him, even though he played shaman both games.
Round 5: Dragon stompy
Game 1 he doubts a lot about keeping his hand (we both knew each other's decklists), and i figured he didnt had chalice, so i keep a hand with karakas, wastland, canopy, vial and 3 creatures. Of course he got off with chalice for 1 t1, and magus of the moon t2. Even though i managed to drop a batterskull turn 10 (i missed a lot of land drops) and won the game.
Game 2 he drops trini t1, rabblemaster t2, rabllemaster t3, rabblemaster t4 ok gg.
Game 3 we both drop a bunch of creatures but circle of protection red gained some time for me (although i got stuck at 3 lands, with a trinisphere down), and won a really close game hitting with flickerwisp
Round 6: UR Delver
Nothing to say, never stood a chance, even with 2 main spirits. I've got a cop red, thalia, batterskull with germ token and mother in play and he managed to win anyway.
I lost all the dices so i never got to start. Not my best day.
I never missed the SoFai in the main, except for the UR match (in which skull was a fair choice the first match anyway). Resto was great the only game i landed it, so i'll keep him in the mb for the moment. Im also considering the 3 (or maybe 2) revoker main in order to give some space for more SoTL. I dont think going big is going to help things aggainst tempo decks with cruise, i'd rather tax them harder, but i may be wrong.
Also, what's your thought on MD canonist? May be a good time.
I really recommend SoFI in the main. True-Name Nemesis, Lightning Bolt, Delver of Secrets and Young Pyromancer are all extremely popular cards right now and SoFI helps you bash through them all--netting a removed creature and a card each turn. I would sooner remove a Batterskull from the main than a SoFI.
I think the basic consensus is that cutting a single Revoker is ok, so long as you have it or a Needle in the board. MD Canonist hasn't been that great in my testing but others here (monovfox if memory serves) have advocated it.
@Barook, Medea: I agree on the Manriki points. I honestly forgot we had the card.
@all: the Source thread has been discussing Ghostly Prison as bullet for the UR Delver and Elves matchup. Finn himself also brought up Windborn Muse. I'm curious as to what other players here think; right now I am leaning towards cutting a Resto for the Muse.
Private Mod Note
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"Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons."
Black is probably the much better splash. Plague comes to mind as the best option for sideboard hate. It has applications in most every creature match up. UR it's probably best to play on elemental just to shut down their pyromancer tokens. In my experience everything else in that match up was manageable. Other wise there really isn't any overlap where we worry about our creatures
@Barook I believe it was Andrew Shrout that recommended splashing Black for Zealous Persecution, Dark Confidant, and Engineered Plague to improve the Elves matchup. I think that once you start moving in that direction, you end up playing Deadguy Ale and also include discard instead of just lightly splashing. The Deadguy Ale deck has a fantastic Elves matchup, I'm 100% sure of that, as our local Elves players lament being paired against the deck.
You know what's better than playing Orzhov Pontiff? Blinking it with Restoration Angel a turn or two later for maximum value! In all seriousness, the Pontiff seems solid in the mirror, against TNN, Elves, and UR Delver.
@BarbedBlightning I'm with Nihilis and agree that having 3 toughness is a poor number as a sideboard card against UR Delver, though having a cmc of 4 is great against Elves. I am not running Magus of the Moat because it, too, has 3 toughness.
I wonder how good Orzhov Pontiff would be in the current meta
I started using him and I'm quite happy (I PLAY JUNK THOUGH. Let's get that out of the way.)
He wiped elves 3-4 times for me under various circumstances between my two Elf MUs last week. Against burn he killed some Grim Lavamancers and carried a sword. Against Zombardment he killed Bob a couple times and carried a sword. He seems lethal and reliable; if maybe only for other decks. He's not instant speed and he's *a lot better* with DRS and removal spam (since he can still drop T2 or you have a better chance at having a T3.)
My reason for using him was that since he can carry a sword, the MUs where he doesn't do anything still cause him to be pretty must-remove, and if he even 2-for-1s (gets a rando and eats removal) it shakes things heavily in your favor. The fact that he eats D&T creatures unconditionally without drawback (no target, no -1/-1 my own dudes, no "only white critters", no Revoker blocking, no super-bad MUs) was the last stake in making me include him.
Here's the deck that I brought to eternal weekend. I cut back on revoker to make room for a couple of spirits expecting a lot of treasure cruise/elves/miracles. Brimaz in the main because I was anticipating a lot of red.
@Barbed Blightning
I've never really left Death and Taxes, although I'm not active on the boards. I have a few other decks, but this is always my first choice, and I've been putting up pretty good results lately. I lost a win and in a couple of months back in a tournament offering power for the top 8...still a little bitter over that. I hope to see you at the GP. It's been a long time!
It has been a very long time! Do you still attend Jupiter events? I'll be in my Mythic shirt for the GP, I should be pretty easy to spot.
Also, interesting sideboard you have. Would you make many changes for the GP?
I wonder how good Orzhov Pontiff would be in the current meta. I think one of lessons learned from Gaddock is that a colored splash based on creatures isn't too outrageous when done with moderation.
In combination with Vial and Flickerwisp/Resto shenanigans, he could even wipe out opposing 2 toughness boards.
We would also gain interesting sideboard options, especially Zealous Persecution, but I think that might stretch the manabase too thin.
Edit: Did some basic math: To support 2 MD Priests and 3 SB Persecutions, we would need at least 8 black sources. Basically 6 fetches/2 Scrublands or a 5/3 split.
I like this idea; it's too bad that there isn't a BW Horizon Canopy. Also, it's worth noting that, unlike Teeg, Pontiff actually syncs with Cavern on Human.
@Barook I believe it was Andrew Shrout that recommended splashing Black for Zealous Persecution, Dark Confidant, and Engineered Plague to improve the Elves matchup. I think that once you start moving in that direction, you end up playing Deadguy Ale and also include discard instead of just lightly splashing. The Deadguy Ale deck has a fantastic Elves matchup, I'm 100% sure of that, as our local Elves players lament being paired against the deck.
You know what's better than playing Orzhov Pontiff? Blinking it with Restoration Angel a turn or two later for maximum value! In all seriousness, the Pontiff seems solid in the mirror, against TNN, Elves, and UR Delver.
@BarbedBlightning I'm with Nihilis and agree that having 3 toughness is a poor number as a sideboard card against UR Delver, though having a cmc of 4 is great against Elves. I am not running Magus of the Moat because it, too, has 3 toughness.
Yeah, that's what is holding me back for Muse.
I, too, was thinking about Resto/Flickerwisp for Pontiff; a one-sided Infest sounds amazing.
Also, @mykatdied: Plague on Elemental kills Flickerwisps. Just saying.
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Too bad you missed the Top 8. :/ There's always the GP!
My question: even if they are playable, are they worth playing? That is, did they bring enough to the table that they filled a hole we had without them? Or are they still a tertiary card?
Follow up question (and anyone else can chip in): if Restos were good, could we consider going bigger with our Vials? I'm not going to start saying that we're similar to Goblins; however, they often tick their Vials to four for Ringleader and Krenko; even five for Siege-Gang. Couldn't we consider a "Big D&T" build, too? Just a thought.
EDIT:
Good to see that you're back to D&T, friend! Also, congrats on the finish; I would definitely be interested in your list/matches.
Currently playing:
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes(Rest in Peace)EDH
RR Krenko, Mob Boss
WW Thalia, Heretic Cathar
For what it's worth, while I'm against the idea of a "Big Death N Taxes." There are other big mana hate bears. There is also Angel of Finality. I doubt theyre worth it, but its potentially an option if graveyard shenanigans with delve become too much, although its very slow.
I don't think 4 mana 3/4s are where we want to be if Delver continues to be a massive part of the meta game.
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
7 Plains
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Karakas
2 Dust Bowl
Creatures
4 Mother of Runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Restoration Angel
3 Flickerwisp
2 Serra Avenger
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Rest in Peace
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sunlance
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Pithing Needle
2 Council's Judgment
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Phyrexian Revoker
Round 1: 2-1 vs BUG Delver
My opponent's deck was nasty: BUG Delver playing Treasure Cruise and Darkblast as a "combo." In game 1, I assembled the Dust Bowl lock and removed his Deathrite Shaman, leaving him with zero permanents and no ability to cast spells for the rest of the game. In game two, he played a turn one Deathrite, turn two Jitte, and my series of X/1's ate it pretty hard. Given another turn or two, my Restoration Angels and Batterskull would have gotten the job done, but he had four Jitte counters by the time I had four and five mana respectively. In game three, my Restoration Angel ambushed an attacking Delver and put me far ahead; a few turns later, a Batterskull equipped with SoFaI finished the job. In this round, the size of Restoration Angel as a 3/4 and it's ability to block profitably against Delver was fantastic.
Round 2: 0-2 vs Miracles (Paul Lynch)
Paul completely blew me out with sideboard cards in this round. In game two, he got a fused Wear/Tear on Aether Vial and SotL AND an Izzet Staticaster to keep me off my smaller creatures. Restoration Angel was strong and slipped through his counterbalance lock, but he had an Entreat for twenty damage in game one and stabilized with the Staticaster at 7 life in game 2.
Round 3: 2-1 vs ANT
Round three was uneventful, and my hatebears shut him out of the game. I will note that I lost game 2 when he cast an instant speed Ad Nauseum after I ported him during his upkeep. I boarded out Restoration Angels.
Round 4: 2-1 vs Sneak and Show
I lost game one by a series of nut draws from my opponent that involved double Lotus Petal into Sneak attack and the Force of Will for my answer. Games two and three were uneventful. I boarded out Restoration Angels.
Round 5: BUG Delver 2-1
My notes are sparse for this round, but I have "Restoration Angel FTW" written down, so I think I ambushed a Delver in game 1. In game two, I was completely blown out by a Virtue's Ruin, followed by an Engineered Plague; however, as I had a RiP in play, my opponent couldn't close out the game for about 30 turns. In game three, my opponent kept a lose hand and was punished by a SotL. Restoration Angel performed well in this round.
Round 6: Reanimator 2-0
In game one, my opponent conceded after I vialed in a SotL in response to his Careful Study. In game two, my opponent cast a turn two Reanimate for Ashen Rider, placing him at 8 life after his fetching and some other thing that made him lose life. I put a Batterskull in play and raced him...whoops! I boarded out Restoration Angel.
Round 7: Green/Black Dark Depths combo 0-2
In game one, I was a little confused about what deck my opponent was playing. He played Urborg and Inquisition on turn one, making me think he was on Pox, followed by Dark Depths and a second discard spell on turn two. Thinking he was on the Turbo Dark depths build from about six months ago, I played a Revoker on turn two on Vampire Hexmage. In retrospect, he would have just played the Hexmage on turn two if he had it, so I should have named Liliana instead. I was immediately punished and lost game 1 in short order.
In game two, I had clear control of the game and a soft lock in place. My opponent was at two life, and then he dropped a Night of Soul's Betrayal, getting a three for one and shutting off my remaining three creatures in hand. I stopped two or three 20/20 monsters, but eventually succumbed to his Loam Engine. Restoration Angel was average in this matchup. Reusing my Flickerwisp triggers was sweet, but coming down on turn four was rough and a Mirran Crusader would have won me this game.
Round 8: 1-2 vs Burn
My opponent had the nut draw of Goblin Guide into Goblin Guide into Sulfuric Vortex. My Batterskull was irrelevant. In game two, my opponent cast a Volcanic Fallout...luckily my double Mother of Runes board was fine afterwords, but I did not anticipate this card and could have gotten destroyed by it; I won this game at 5 life. In game three, my opponent got another early Sulfuric Vortex, nullifying the life gain from my Batterskull. My opponent won with lethal on board with the top decked Searing Blaze and the land in hand for landfall. Restoration Angel can be cast through Eidolon and lives through Bolt, making it strong in this matchup; however, it does come down on turn 4, making it an ineffective clock for killing my opponent.
Round 9: 0-2 vs Dig through Time BUG Delver
In this round, I played against Oliver, 12-year-old Open series regular. In game one, my opponent curved Deathrite into Goyf into TNN into Wasting one of my two lands. I could have easily swung this game back, but I missed out on land drops for one too many turns and didn't have the chance to resolve my answers. In game two, I mulled to four after not seeing any lands in my first three lands. At this point in the tournament, I knew that this was lights out for me. I played a SotL and passed my turn. He plays a Ponder on his turn. I give him a puzzled look, and let it resolve. At this point, he has seven cards in hand, I think two goyfs in play, and I've got literal nothing. He proceeds to pick a card up off the top of his deck and I am faced with a decision. I can either allow him to draw the card and win an absolutely unwinnable game or stop him right now before he sees the card and it touches his hand. My gut reacts immediately and I yell "CAREFUL CAREFUL CAREFUL" as quickly as I can. My opponent looks at the board, understands the implications of what I just did, and thanks me profusely.
Restoration Angel was offensively strong this round, but a Mirran Crusader would have been the preferable defensive option when I was on the back foot.
At this point in the tournament, a judge friend of mine pulled me aside and requested that I work the Vintage event tomorrow morning, as they were understaffed (the turnout was about 100-150 more people than last year, far surpassing their expected turnout). Given that it was 10:30 and I hadn't had dinner, I opted to drop before the final round to eat and get a decent night's sleep since I would be working in the morning.
Given the events of the day, here are my thoughts on my list based on my match data: Restoration Angel is incredibly strong in the current Delver/Bolt-filled metagame. I ambushed two Delvers in three rounds today, and my BUG opponents claimed that they had zero outs, with the exception of Oliver, who played a single Sultai Charm. Restoration Angel is very weak in the combo matchups, but can easily be sided out for the hate that we normally bring in. While Restoration Angel is strong against Delver, it is obviously much weaker against Goyf than Mirran Crusader in terms of defense. In short, I believe that Restoration Angel is viable metagame choice, but that it is by no means a necessary inclusion in the deck. It shines in the fair, midrange matchups, but suffers in the combo matchups; by going bigger than our opponents, we gain more power and end game strength at the cost of speed.
Dust Bowl is the other thing worthy of discussion. In round one, it obliterated my BUG opponent, leaving him with no permanents. Other than that, I sniped a couple of lands over the course of the day. The Dust Bowl package left me very vulnerable to Price of Progress, and I noticed at one point against Burn that I would have taken twelve damage should my opponent had kept the card in his deck for the post-sideboard games. My opponents unknowingly were playing around Dust Bowl by playing around Wasteland, lessening its effect. Dust Bowl was also a poor way of grinding advantage against Treasure Cruise decks; on the other hand, those decks also run few colored sources, so that is worth consideration.
My opinions of Resto are pretty much on par with yours, and I'm happy to see that Resto has performed well, she's certainly a very good card against UR Delver and other Delver flavors. I usually side out 1 copy of Resto against Burn though, 4 turns is surely quite slow in that matchup even tough she goes through Eidolon, I don't want to see more than one copy per game.
Will you play this list again in the GP? Or will switch to a more traditional list.
One "trick" I use with sideboarding (well not a trick, it's more just common sense) is what whenever I bring my Restos lower than 3 (usually 0 or 1) in those matchups where she's not relevant I side out a Dust Bowl (from 24 lands to 23) because mana requirements aren't as high, and that frees me a slot for more gas and sideboard cards. The matchups where I want Cata and Liege are matchups where Resto are extremely good so there's no problem on that front. With Restos and 24 lands and a sideboard with low curve you can pretty much change your curve post board and that frees up a lot of space and gives your deck a lot of versatility. In the same way against extremely fast combo (ANT), or matchups where land destruction is irrelevant (manaless Dredge), or where Wisps aren't as good either you can go down to 22 land if you need space.
The fairest matchups like BUG, RUG and Jund play extremely well with plenty of mana, utility lands and Restos, and if your meta has plenty of those the winrate goes up a lot with that build.
Great report, sorry you hit the bricks in the last few. I know Paul, btw, I play him and his crew basically every week in Legacy and Standard. He's a very canny deck builder and he has a good nose for the meta.
@Barook
Modern
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Wicked!
Medea:
Great tournament report. Sucks about those losses.
I have resto's, I suppose I should try them out instead of just bugging on them. I really want to go back to Linvala as well, but alas there isn't the room for that many 4 drops.
Still on the Teeg build, but can't say that ANY current build is "the" build for this deck. Once again, the stock, meta dependent answer seems most appropriate
4 Mother of Runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Flickerwisp
3 Serra Avenger
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword Of Fire and Ice
Lands
10 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
3 Karakas
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Mirran Crusader
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Council's Judgment
2 Cataclysm
Round 1 : 2-0 vs Burn
His Goblin guides netted me a couple of lands in game one and I kept up pressure with thalia and stoneforge directing his attention towards my creatures until I overwhelm him with thalia and serra avenger. In game two, thalia and port made it difficult for him to do much of anything relevant.
Round 2 : 2-0 vs Enchantress
In game one he casts his enchantress turn two, but thalia, port and wasteland make sure he casts nothing else for the rest of the game. Game two was similar for both of us, turn two thalias and enchantress. Spirit with mom and flickerwisp backup make sure he only draws a single extra card before I kill him.
Round 3 : 0-2 vs Dark Depths Maverick
I'm on the draw, and he accelerates with green's zenith into arbor followed by stoneforge mystic. His jitte gets online a turn before mine can, and there is no recovery. In game two, I get rid of his jitte with council's judgment before it can hurt me too much, and flickerwisp away the 20/20 before I get run over by 10/10 knights.
Round 4 : 2-0 vs U/R Delver
I'm on the draw and his delver hits me a couple of times before I stabilize and get sword of fire and ice online. I don't remember much about game two, but I don't have myself losing any life. I think spirit of the labyrinth was important here.
Round 5 : 2-0 vs Dragon Stompy
I initially have no idea what I'm playing against. Sol lands and mountains? Mono red sneak attack? I let revoker name sneak attack here. He plays a morphed creature and hits me for 5 with hellbent (I don't remember this guy's name). Mana denial, mom, and serra avenger get me there. Game two, he casts a turn one chalice that doesn't really bother me. Mana denial was good again.
Round 6 : 2-1 vs RUG Delver
He's playing a more traditional RUG list with mongoose and stifles. Delver beats me down for several turns until I can protect a stoneforge, get batterskull online, and run away with it. Game two, I mull to 5 and lose rather quickly. Game three was pretty tight with delver beats getting me in bolt range with me presenting lethal on my turn. He doesn't top deck it, and I pull it out.
Round 7 : 2-1 vs Jund
I believe he hit turn one and two throughtseizes before three goyfs made short work of me. I kept a pretty sketchy hand in game two. I plowed a couple deathrites, and I think we wasteland each other. He's left with no lands, me with one and mom leading to a couple turns of draw go until I can cast thalia and attack once or twice with mom. Because why not? He gets a couple of lands eventually but can't do anything against port and thalia. In game three I won with batterskull and I think rest in peace shut him down. He never really threatened me this game and can't recall much else.
Round 8 : 1-1-1 vs Esper Stoneblade
Game one was lengthy with me pecking away at him while trying to keep jitte offline with revoker, and staving off batterskull with flickerwisp. Eventually he treasure cruises. And gets through to kill revoker, and equip jitte on a true name. In game two, I was the aggressor and kept him off balance. I didn't lose any life. We're low on time going into game three and the match goes back and forth a little before we go to time.
Round 9 : 1-2 vs Esper Stoneblade
I lost a long game one after treasure cruises and his equipment overwhelms me. I don't remember much about game two, but I think I win relatively quickly here. Game three I kept a hand similar to plains, vial, stp, 2 stoneforge, thalia, mom. Seems pretty good. Except he casts needle after I land vial, stp on the mom, and I proceed to not draw lands and lose.
Round 10 : 2-0 vs Jund
Thalia and serra avenger knock him down with port back up in game one. In game two I was getting beat down by double deathrite and goyf before I land rest in peace, fight back with a jitte and get there.
Overall, very happy with the deck. Spirits pulled a lot of weight for me, and Brimaz would have been solid if I drew him more. I decided to forego the extra council's judgment, and the lieges i usually run in favor of more crusaders and cataclysm. Crusader didn't do a whole lot, but I think that it is very important to win game one in any b/g match with all the hate they bring in from the side. Crusader is a house against those decks and tilts thing more in our favor. I'm finding hymn and liliana to be a little less prevalent, and liege not pulling the weight he used to. And I like that he slots nicely into the deck for matchups where revoker or spirit is dead.
EDIT :
@Barbed Blightning
I've never really left Death and Taxes, although I'm not active on the boards. I have a few other decks, but this is always my first choice, and I've been putting up pretty good results lately. I lost a win and in a couple of months back in a tournament offering power for the top 8...still a little bitter over that. I hope to see you at the GP. It's been a long time!
@redtwister Paul is a friend of mine also. I lived in College Park, MD before moving to Roanoke, VA, so we played all the time at local legacy events. I stop by Brewport from time to time when I'm in town and play in their weekly events. His Bant deck is probably my favorite of his brews. I will be testing quite a bit before GP:NJ, and I'll play the version of the deck that I believe suits the metagame at the time.
And for the record, AntiquatedNotion's deck is full of foily goodness and was quite the sight to see.
Legacy:WDeath and TaxesW W45-L16-D11 8 Top 8s 15th Scg Oakland
Current Kiln Fiend Count: 153 Please message me if you want to trade me or give me some.
Commission Rezombied to alter some cards, he's awesome!
@user_36954 Mikokoro sees play in the Modern version for the deck for that exact reason. I'm not aware of anyone who has tested the card in Legacy, though there was talk of it around the time of SotL's release.
Modern: WUBValue Titan UMerfolk WGDeath and Taxes
@Barook I put Manriki back in for the same reason.
@Sunburst Many forum regulars run or have run a single Chalice in the sideboard as part of the tutor package in the past. I don't know if I like running three since it interferes with our own Mom/Vial/StP and we cannot play it on turn one, but the card does certainly pull some weight.
I actually never thought it was such a bad match up for us, but it really is. The TC really crushes our grinding plan, and the dazes prevent us for early disruption. Anyway, here is a quick report of it:
Round 1: Mirror 1-0
We only played 1 really long game (we finished literally at the end of the round), with him getting way ahead of me in lands (i got stuck at 2 plains), and getting 3 active ports which tapped me all the way until i could land an aether vial. Anyway, he only had 2 creatures in play and i managed to sneak 2 mother of runes which made the difference the whole game, since he couldnt find either a revoker, a mom, or double removal. One funny note on restoration is that i managed to cast it in response to his triple port activation, completely shutting down his serra avenger and giving me some more time (i was at 9 and he was at 25). Finally i could land some more lands, mirran crusader, stoneforge for jitte, flickered my revoker (naming jitte), attached to mirran, attack, kill some creatures and name jitte again when revoker landed (he had one jitte in play) for the win.
Round 2: Mirror..... 2-1
Sort of a budget version. No ports and no karakas, but with ghost quarter and leonin arbiter. So no actual threat imo.
Game 1 he rushes to activate an stoneforge (which searched a batterskull) and ghost quarters his own cavern of souls in order to have the second white source to activate it asap. I blocked skull with thalia, protected her with karakas, and flickered the token the next turn. He got stuck at 2 mana. Big missplay of him with the lands. Won the game.
Game 2 he gets the ideal hand with 2 mothers, 2 wastelands, 2 swords and plains, he proceded to draw plains stoneforge. Nothing to do.
Game 3 we both got out with vial and little lands, but i dropped and early stoneforge into batterskull and revoked for vial for a really quick win.
Round 3: Shardless BUG 0-2
Game 1 i started with a good looking hand: Mother, thalia, mirran, resto and 2 lands, but he kept responding to each of my creatures until i landed mirran, but by that time he casted double shardless cascading into double tarmogoyf and started attacking with creeping tar pit. Nothing for me to do.
Game 2 i start out with t2 thalia, he plays dread of night. Next turn i council's his dread and he plays Liliana otv. He activates and i have the biggest missplay (im guessing for not sleeping for 2 days) of not dropping the wilt-leaf liege in my hand and discarding a swords to plowshares. Again, shardless into tarmogoyf and though i played the liege for the second lili activation i could never keep up.
Round 4: Bug Delver
I Dont recall much of this game, except for another missplay, having 4 mana open (he had a flipped delver on play, which revealed a daze and 3 cards in hand) i played serra avenger who got fowed with the daze, and then, assuming he didnt have another daze, rushed a stoneforge mystic which, of course, got dazed. Game for him.
Game 2 i mull to six (i had wasteland and 6 creatures), and i drew wasteland, 4 plains and a vial. I figured id rather keep that. Drew 2 lands, a vial and a liege and got killed. Treasure cruise was amazing for him, even though he played shaman both games.
Round 5: Dragon stompy
Game 1 he doubts a lot about keeping his hand (we both knew each other's decklists), and i figured he didnt had chalice, so i keep a hand with karakas, wastland, canopy, vial and 3 creatures. Of course he got off with chalice for 1 t1, and magus of the moon t2. Even though i managed to drop a batterskull turn 10 (i missed a lot of land drops) and won the game.
Game 2 he drops trini t1, rabblemaster t2, rabllemaster t3, rabblemaster t4 ok gg.
Game 3 we both drop a bunch of creatures but circle of protection red gained some time for me (although i got stuck at 3 lands, with a trinisphere down), and won a really close game hitting with flickerwisp
Round 6: UR Delver
Nothing to say, never stood a chance, even with 2 main spirits. I've got a cop red, thalia, batterskull with germ token and mother in play and he managed to win anyway.
I lost all the dices so i never got to start. Not my best day.
BTW, this is the list i played:
10 Plains
4 Wasteland
4 Port
3 Karakas
2 Horizon canopy
4 Swords to plowshares
4 Aetehr vial
1 Batterskull
1 Jitte
4 Mother
4 Thalia
4 Revoker
4 Stoneforge
3 Serra avenger
2 Spirit of the lab
3 flickerwisp
2 mirran crusader
1 restoration angel
SB:
2 enlightened tutor
2 councils judgement
2 wilt leaf liege
2 ethersworn canonist
2 rest in peace
1 cop red
1 SoFaI
1 ratchet bomb
1 grafdigger's cage
1 pithing needle
I never missed the SoFai in the main, except for the UR match (in which skull was a fair choice the first match anyway). Resto was great the only game i landed it, so i'll keep him in the mb for the moment. Im also considering the 3 (or maybe 2) revoker main in order to give some space for more SoTL. I dont think going big is going to help things aggainst tempo decks with cruise, i'd rather tax them harder, but i may be wrong.
Also, what's your thought on MD canonist? May be a good time.
I really recommend SoFI in the main. True-Name Nemesis, Lightning Bolt, Delver of Secrets and Young Pyromancer are all extremely popular cards right now and SoFI helps you bash through them all--netting a removed creature and a card each turn. I would sooner remove a Batterskull from the main than a SoFI.
I think the basic consensus is that cutting a single Revoker is ok, so long as you have it or a Needle in the board. MD Canonist hasn't been that great in my testing but others here (monovfox if memory serves) have advocated it.
@Barook, Medea: I agree on the Manriki points. I honestly forgot we had the card.
@all: the Source thread has been discussing Ghostly Prison as bullet for the UR Delver and Elves matchup. Finn himself also brought up Windborn Muse. I'm curious as to what other players here think; right now I am leaning towards cutting a Resto for the Muse.
Currently playing:
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes(Rest in Peace)EDH
RR Krenko, Mob Boss
WW Thalia, Heretic Cathar
You know what's better than playing Orzhov Pontiff? Blinking it with Restoration Angel a turn or two later for maximum value! In all seriousness, the Pontiff seems solid in the mirror, against TNN, Elves, and UR Delver.
@BarbedBlightning I'm with Nihilis and agree that having 3 toughness is a poor number as a sideboard card against UR Delver, though having a cmc of 4 is great against Elves. I am not running Magus of the Moat because it, too, has 3 toughness.
I started using him and I'm quite happy (I PLAY JUNK THOUGH. Let's get that out of the way.)
He wiped elves 3-4 times for me under various circumstances between my two Elf MUs last week. Against burn he killed some Grim Lavamancers and carried a sword. Against Zombardment he killed Bob a couple times and carried a sword. He seems lethal and reliable; if maybe only for other decks. He's not instant speed and he's *a lot better* with DRS and removal spam (since he can still drop T2 or you have a better chance at having a T3.)
My reason for using him was that since he can carry a sword, the MUs where he doesn't do anything still cause him to be pretty must-remove, and if he even 2-for-1s (gets a rando and eats removal) it shakes things heavily in your favor. The fact that he eats D&T creatures unconditionally without drawback (no target, no -1/-1 my own dudes, no "only white critters", no Revoker blocking, no super-bad MUs) was the last stake in making me include him.
Look, Fetch, Draw, Look
Draw
Fetch
Look
It has been a very long time! Do you still attend Jupiter events? I'll be in my Mythic shirt for the GP, I should be pretty easy to spot.
Also, interesting sideboard you have. Would you make many changes for the GP?
I like this idea; it's too bad that there isn't a BW Horizon Canopy. Also, it's worth noting that, unlike Teeg, Pontiff actually syncs with Cavern on Human.
Yeah, that's what is holding me back for Muse.
I, too, was thinking about Resto/Flickerwisp for Pontiff; a one-sided Infest sounds amazing.
Also, @mykatdied: Plague on Elemental kills Flickerwisps. Just saying.
Currently playing:
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes(Rest in Peace)EDH
RR Krenko, Mob Boss
WW Thalia, Heretic Cathar