I know I didn't talk about Leyline. The reason is I have to dedicate 4 slots to a single deck. That never sits very well with me, even if I hate that MU so much. If there was something I could have picked up with Merchant scroll that would have been awesome.
My sideboard as it stands is mostly to dodge the GY hate or leylines of sanctity from the opposite side - so grapeshots become empties and some gifts/past become epic experiments. The only dedicated piece in my 15 is arguably Shatterstorm - but I only run 1 piece and it wrecks that deck so hard, I give it a slot. Moons buy a ton of time against tricolor decks, and last but not least I have the removals/answers - a pair of dismembers and a bounce spell.
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I know I didn't talk about Leyline. The reason is I have to dedicate 4 slots to a single deck. That never sits very well with me, even if I hate that MU so much. If there was something I could have picked up with Merchant scroll that would have been awesome.
My sideboard as it stands is mostly to dodge the GY hate or leylines of sanctity from the opposite side - so grapeshots become empties and some gifts/past become epic experiments. The only dedicated piece in my 15 is arguably Shatterstorm - but I only run 1 piece and it wrecks that deck so hard, I give it a slot. Moons buy a ton of time against tricolor decks, and last but not least I have the removals/answers - a pair of dismembers and a bounce spell.
I know it sucks that you would have to devote more than a quarter of your sideboard to one deck. But you make it seem like you face that deck once or twice every week without fail, and there's a number of people on that deck. If that's the case, then it's very much CORRECT to devote that much to a bad matchup that's prevalent.
If it's one person that plays the deck, don't change the board and accept that you likely just lose to him and hope not to get paired against him.
If it's a large percentage of the field playing this deck, board heavily for it, or pick a different deck that preys on their choice of deck.
Those are your options, plain and simple.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
They're crappy options for sure, but yea you've summed up my worst fears. I can either sac 4 slots of my SB or hope to dodge. Its not even a sure thing - G1 will be autolose, and G2 and 3 I am basically mulling until I find them. Any drawn leyline is a dead card, too.
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8 rack is 100% win able without leylines, just side board the standard 3 empties plus pieces of the puzzle, if your really worried about it then play extra pieces. But a normal storm list should be able to win that matchup 40% of the time. Just play smart, hold your mana reducers for comboing and always try to find lands and PIF. Slam gifts too, but not to combo, just to get more cards in hand, this is one of the few matchups where I have cast gifts revealing 4 lands. They're deck is so slow, you should be able to combo somehow before they find a route to lethal
The madcap plan is terrible, it doesn't win you any games, only delays your death. I tried it in a meda with four burn decks and it was still bad. If you insist on playing it tho, the most important sideboard slots are lightning bolt and empty the warrens. After that spree is good. The white splash is bad. Spree and echo are way better than wear//tear and bolt/dismember is better than path. Not to mention the splash is a nonbo with bloodmoon. Not to shred to much, but apostles blessing and noxious revival aren't very good in my mind either. Revival is debatable, but your worst matchup is hand disruption and revival is card disadvantage. Remand is better than blessing in 90% of your matchups. My current list has no flex slots with 3 grape shots, 3 PIF, 4 remands, and all 8 creatures. If you aren't playing all 8 creatures you should. Especially with all the GDS in the meda. Other than that flex slots should go towards peer through depths or maybe revival. Main boarcrd empty is bad.
Mind if I see what kind of list you are running? I havent figured out what kind of flex slots I should use, im biased towards peers/4 remands. Also is blood moon in the 75 mandatory? I feel it autowins a lot of games postboard
Hey guys, I've been following this thread for some time,but there are some issues that I am still having with sideboarding.
Repeal: I see a lot of decks running repeal, but I can't figure out why. Can someone explain to me why people play repeal? It just seems so bad since it is usually going to cost at least 3 for most of the relevant threats while more echoing truths can do the job.
Swan Song: What does everyone think about the sideboard swan song vs dispel or even negate?
Main deck Empty the Warrens: This has always confused me since empty seems like a bad card game one in most matchups. We didn't use to run maindeck empties in the old versions of storm, so what changed that has made maindeck empties good now? or is it even good?
Remand: I see a lot of people running 3-4 remands in their lists and while I think it is a good card, running so many remands seem to go against our game plan of being proactive. I run 2 but can anyone explain the reasoning behind the full playset?
White Splash: Also what does everyone think about the white splash? Storm had won a modern classic recently with it. How does the path and wear/tear compare with echoing truth/ dismember? Does dismember's life cost too much?
Finally I always have trouble actually sideboarding between games so if anyone explain to me what cards are bad in what matchups and what cards are good would be much appreciated. For instance, when I sideboard I always sideboard out the flex slots of remands, peer through depths and noxious revival first and sometimes a cost reducer. Is this correct?
I am new to this forum so I do not know how to use the deck tools, but this is my list. Feedback is much appreciated. I'm sorry I asked a lot of questions at once. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/20-03-16-gifts-storm/
Decklist:
Creatures
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
4x Goblin Electromancer
Instant
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Manamorphose
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Remand
2x Peer Through Depths
1x Noxious Revival
Sorcery
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Past in Flames
2x Grapeshot
Lands
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Flooded Strand
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Shivan Reef
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Sideboard:
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Blood Moon
2x Echoing Truth
2x Empty the Warrens
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pieces of the Puzzle
1x Shattering Spree
2x Swan Song
I agree about blood moon, I will post my whole list and a rundown of what went well and what didn't after the weekend is over because I at the scg open
Your list is strong and I like it, I would favor mainboard remand over peer. White splash is gross, I don't suggest it. Mainboard empty is a trap. Noxious revival can be powerful, but it's not nearly as good as most storm players think it is. It's a terrible draw and it just isn't revealed by gifts enough to be worth the slot from my expierience. As for sideboarding, yes you often remove flex slots first but different cards are better in different matchups. Example, I take out PIF, and Baral against eldrazi trim before remand, because of there warping wail, chalice, relic and cage sideboard plan. You have to really think about how your winning
Hey guys, I've been following this thread for some time,but there are some issues that I am still having with sideboarding.
Repeal: I see a lot of decks running repeal, but I can't figure out why. Can someone explain to me why people play repeal? It just seems so bad since it is usually going to cost at least 3 for most of the relevant threats while more echoing truths can do the job.
Swan Song: What does everyone think about the sideboard swan song vs dispel or even negate?
Main deck Empty the Warrens: This has always confused me since empty seems like a bad card game one in most matchups. We didn't use to run maindeck empties in the old versions of storm, so what changed that has made maindeck empties good now? or is it even good?
Remand: I see a lot of people running 3-4 remands in their lists and while I think it is a good card, running so many remands seem to go against our game plan of being proactive. I run 2 but can anyone explain the reasoning behind the full playset?
White Splash: Also what does everyone think about the white splash? Storm had won a modern classic recently with it. How does the path and wear/tear compare with echoing truth/ dismember? Does dismember's life cost too much?
Finally I always have trouble actually sideboarding between games so if anyone explain to me what cards are bad in what matchups and what cards are good would be much appreciated. For instance, when I sideboard I always sideboard out the flex slots of remands, peer through depths and noxious revival first and sometimes a cost reducer. Is this correct?
I am new to this forum so I do not know how to use the deck tools, but this is my list. Feedback is much appreciated. I'm sorry I asked a lot of questions at once. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/20-03-16-gifts-storm/
Decklist:
Creatures
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
4x Goblin Electromancer
Instant
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Manamorphose
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Remand
2x Peer Through Depths
1x Noxious Revival
Sorcery
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Past in Flames
2x Grapeshot
Lands
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Flooded Strand
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Shivan Reef
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Sideboard:
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Blood Moon
2x Echoing Truth
2x Empty the Warrens
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pieces of the Puzzle
1x Shattering Spree
2x Swan Song
--Repeal is a way to bounce Rest in Peace/Leyline/eidolon that also draws a card, I have to assume that's the reason people would play it over echoing truth.
--I LOVE swan song over negate/dispel, because most of the cards that we really hate are instants, sorceries or enchantments. Them getting a 2/2 isn't ideal, but in 90% of the times you're casting it a 2/2 flier is much less a threat than whatever you countered, or you're winning that turn.
--Maindeck EtW I think was to potentially diversify threats. But as the deck has evolved, playing 3 grapeshot main gives us the best odds to win game 1, and if we see them boarding in grave hate, we switch to the Empty plan and win that way.
--2 Remand is stock, it's a soft counter that makes it harder to stop us going off, and with Baral it's "draw 2 discard 1." which is really good. The extra two copies are a flex spot that people can use if they really like it, but I prefer Peer Through Depths in its place personally.
--A white splash for Path and Wear//Tear seems cute, and if you want to try it go ahead. I'm not sure there's necessarily enough space for it in the mana base, though. You could also potentialy splash black instead for Collective Brutality and Nihil Spellbomb if you feel you need graveyard hate, but that seems similarly shaky. Overall straight UR seems best.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Hey players, I was at the SCG, drew very bad matchups in the open, Burn *2, deaths shadow, jund, Rock, Eldrazi tron and was taken out in round 7 by a rogue enduring ideal deck. Saw Caleb playing, I'm guessing the 0 fetch plan was a meda call against all the Leonins and avens in modern right now. Based off the decks I saw didn't seem like the right call, blood moon was very good in the meda and you'll want fetches for that. Remand is insanity and was very good in this meda. I can't say I know why Caleb dropped it, but he is a very intelligent player. Based off my experience and calebs list I am going to be trying swan song in the sideboard, besides that, my list was exactly what I wanted. Day 2 I entered the classic, 260 players. My matchups were burn*2, affinity*2, valakut, mono green devotion, baby eldrazi, blue white control, and blue moon. Made top 8 and then lost to burn. Here is my decklist http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=115390
Any matchup questions, I'm keen to reply.
Hey guys, I've been following this thread for some time,but there are some issues that I am still having with sideboarding.
Repeal: I see a lot of decks running repeal, but I can't figure out why. Can someone explain to me why people play repeal? It just seems so bad since it is usually going to cost at least 3 for most of the relevant threats while more echoing truths can do the job.
Swan Song: What does everyone think about the sideboard swan song vs dispel or even negate?
Main deck Empty the Warrens: This has always confused me since empty seems like a bad card game one in most matchups. We didn't use to run maindeck empties in the old versions of storm, so what changed that has made maindeck empties good now? or is it even good?
Remand: I see a lot of people running 3-4 remands in their lists and while I think it is a good card, running so many remands seem to go against our game plan of being proactive. I run 2 but can anyone explain the reasoning behind the full playset?
White Splash: Also what does everyone think about the white splash? Storm had won a modern classic recently with it. How does the path and wear/tear compare with echoing truth/ dismember? Does dismember's life cost too much?
Finally I always have trouble actually sideboarding between games so if anyone explain to me what cards are bad in what matchups and what cards are good would be much appreciated. For instance, when I sideboard I always sideboard out the flex slots of remands, peer through depths and noxious revival first and sometimes a cost reducer. Is this correct?
I am new to this forum so I do not know how to use the deck tools, but this is my list. Feedback is much appreciated. I'm sorry I asked a lot of questions at once. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/20-03-16-gifts-storm/
Decklist:
Creatures
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
4x Goblin Electromancer
Instant
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Manamorphose
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Remand
2x Peer Through Depths
1x Noxious Revival
Sorcery
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Past in Flames
2x Grapeshot
Lands
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Flooded Strand
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Shivan Reef
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Sideboard:
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Blood Moon
2x Echoing Truth
2x Empty the Warrens
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pieces of the Puzzle
1x Shattering Spree
2x Swan Song
--Repeal is a way to bounce Rest in Peace/Leyline/eidolon that also draws a card, I have to assume that's the reason people would play it over echoing truth.
--I LOVE swan song over negate/dispel, because most of the cards that we really hate are instants, sorceries or enchantments. Them getting a 2/2 isn't ideal, but in 90% of the times you're casting it a 2/2 flier is much less a threat than whatever you countered, or you're winning that turn.
--Maindeck EtW I think was to potentially diversify threats. But as the deck has evolved, playing 3 grapeshot main gives us the best odds to win game 1, and if we see them boarding in grave hate, we switch to the Empty plan and win that way.
--2 Remand is stock, it's a soft counter that makes it harder to stop us going off, and with Baral it's "draw 2 discard 1." which is really good. The extra two copies are a flex spot that people can use if they really like it, but I prefer Peer Through Depths in its place personally.
--A white splash for Path and Wear//Tear seems cute, and if you want to try it go ahead. I'm not sure there's necessarily enough space for it in the mana base, though. You could also potentialy splash black instead for Collective Brutality and Nihil Spellbomb if you feel you need graveyard hate, but that seems similarly shaky. Overall straight UR seems best.
With regards to bounce spells. Bounce is stock because it just answers any permanent based hate either during the combo (right before the grapeshot to bounce leyline of sanctity or runed halo) or at EOT against GY hate before our gifts turn etc. With regards to choice of bounce though, this is where it gets fun:
Echoing Truth: The most popular option, because sometimes the opponent starts with TWO leyline of the void/sanctity. Because nobody sides 1 copy of a leyline. Likewise, people don't play a single copy of eidolon. Quirks of this card include being able to blow out a Tokens opponent.
Repeal: The most obvious upside is the draw. Against Affinity this can be a 1 mana bounce spell with no card loss, which can be very useful in a race, which Affinity often is.
Into the Roil: Similar to Repeal, you gain some flexibility in exchange for a flat rate. So its not as good against affinity, or anything up to 2 cmc. At 3 CMC or higher, you're advantaged over Repeal. In a pinch you can choose to skip the card draw and just pay 1U or U with reducer out.
Boomerang: The only bounce spell that can hit a land, this option lets you put the opponent 2 lands behind on the play. Not a significant enough upside over the others, generally.
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BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Hey players, I was at the SCG, drew very bad matchups in the open, Burn *2, deaths shadow, jund, Rock, Eldrazi tron and was taken out in round 7 by a rogue enduring ideal deck. Saw Caleb playing, I'm guessing the 0 fetch plan was a meda call against all the Leonins and avens in modern right now. Based off the decks I saw didn't seem like the right call, blood moon was very good in the meda and you'll want fetches for that. Remand is insanity and was very good in this meda. I can't say I know why Caleb dropped it, but he is a very intelligent player. Based off my experience and calebs list I am going to be trying swan song in the sideboard, besides that, my list was exactly what I wanted. Day 2 I entered the classic, 260 players. My matchups were burn*2, affinity*2, valakut, mono green devotion, baby eldrazi, blue white control, and blue moon. Made top 8 and then lost to burn. Here is my decklist http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=115390
Any matchup questions, I'm keen to reply.
Running 0 fetches to fade leonin arbiter is a very interesting meta choice, but yeah the threat of blood moon is a very appealing reason to be on the fetch plan to get your basic islands. I think if your meta is lousy with hatebears then it's worth considering, though they've other tricks that can be even bigger pains in the ass (I saw at FNM this past week a restore balance deck respond to a 20-storm grapeshot with a quickened Oketra's Last Mercy after most of them resolved. The salt was so thick you could attract deer with it.)
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Could anyone go into more detail on the 3 grapeshot plan?
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In my dream, the world had suffered a terrible disaster. A black haze shut out the sun, and the darkness was alive with the moans and screams of wounded people. Suddenly, a small light glowed. A candle flickered into life, symbol of hope for millions. A single tiny candle, shining in the ugly dark. I laughed and blew it out.
Many thanks to HotP Studios. Special thanks to DNC for this great sig.
Went 0-3 to drop from a PPTQ last Saturday. Round one was burn and I simply got rolled. Round two was BW tokens where I won game one, but lost games two and three as he boarded in TWELVE cards including Leyline of Sanctity, Lost Legacy, and Zealous Persecution to effectively shut down all ways I could win. Round three was a Grixis Delver player I've went against before. I don't have another qualifier for about two weeks, but yeah that was a rough go of things.
Hey players, I was at the SCG, drew very bad matchups in the open, Burn *2, deaths shadow, jund, Rock, Eldrazi tron and was taken out in round 7 by a rogue enduring ideal deck. Saw Caleb playing, I'm guessing the 0 fetch plan was a meda call against all the Leonins and avens in modern right now. Based off the decks I saw didn't seem like the right call, blood moon was very good in the meda and you'll want fetches for that. Remand is insanity and was very good in this meda. I can't say I know why Caleb dropped it, but he is a very intelligent player. Based off my experience and calebs list I am going to be trying swan song in the sideboard, besides that, my list was exactly what I wanted. Day 2 I entered the classic, 260 players. My matchups were burn*2, affinity*2, valakut, mono green devotion, baby eldrazi, blue white control, and blue moon. Made top 8 and then lost to burn. Here is my decklist http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=115390
Any matchup questions, I'm keen to reply.
Running 0 fetches to fade leonin arbiter is a very interesting meta choice, but yeah the threat of blood moon is a very appealing reason to be on the fetch plan to get your basic islands. I think if your meta is lousy with hatebears then it's worth considering, though they've other tricks that can be even bigger pains in the ass (I saw at FNM this past week a restore balance deck respond to a 20-storm grapeshot with a quickened Oketra's Last Mercy after most of them resolved. The salt was so thick you could attract deer with it.)
I've been testing Scherer's no fetch list and it feels fantastic. Having no fetches in the deck makes all our scrys much better. In most games, we're favored to win if we ever see a Gifts, so this is helping to reduce the variance quite alot.
Scherer also dropped Remand from his list, which I personally like. By reintroducing Thought Scour into the deck and playing 2 Peer, the card velocity of the deck increases. You see more cards, which in turn makes the deck more consistent. For those of us that were on previous iterations of the deck with Pyromancer's Ascension, you'll remember that card velocity was one of the fundamental principles that made the deck tick, and even though this version of Storm is a bit different, the underlying idea that velocity lowers variance is still there. Just look at Death's Shadow, for example; they churn through their deck with cantrips and Street Wraith, and each of their games plays very similarly because this variance is reduced. With us, we need to churn through more of our deck to ensure we're mitigating variance as well. This is especially pertinent for Storm because we need so many pieces to come together at once, with Gifts being the keystone of the whole plan.
While we do lose out on the Grapeshot-Remand lines, playing 3 Grapeshot somewhat mitigates this issue. Scherer said on Twitter that Remand either wins the game or is a dead draw; I tend to move away from cards that are either amazing or dead manindeck, especially in a deck like this, so I believe that there's justification for cutting Remand.
This deck is all about statistics, and this build is an excellent example of minimizing variance
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Modern UR Storm URB Grixis Delver W Death and Taxes
Basically anything with Scalding Tarn
After some evaluation of the plan of dropping remand I have to say I'm not with it. First reason, it presents the same card cycling as thought scour. It just isn't that much of a consistently change but you lose all interaction. So many of storm games go turn two remand, untap win, where without that remand you were dead. Not to mention with burn and eldrazi tron raging rn, remand is well placed. Remanding chalice or eidelon and then gaining one more turn, aka one more draw and one more land play to win is insanely huge. And I'll point out that Caleb didn't get taken out by tron. Thought scour seems superior against GDS, but even then it can be useful, comboing while holding it up for there interactions. Pieces of the puzzle is insane, if you aren't sideboarding it yet, add it ASAP.
After some evaluation of the plan of dropping remand I have to say I'm not with it. First reason, it presents the same card cycling as thought scour. It just isn't that much of a consistently change but you lose all interaction. So many of storm games go turn two remand, untap win, where without that remand you were dead. Not to mention with burn and eldrazi tron raging rn, remand is well placed. Remanding chalice or eidelon and then gaining one more turn, aka one more draw and one more land play to win is insanely huge. And I'll point out that Caleb didn't get taken out by tron. Thought scour seems superior against GDS, but even then it can be useful, comboing while holding it up for there interactions. Pieces of the puzzle is insane, if you aren't sideboarding it yet, add it ASAP.
A couple points:
- Scour digs deeper than Remand, as it lets you see 3 cards instead of 1 fresh one. Occasionally Remand lets you see 2 if Baral is out.
- Scour doesn't require your opponent to cast something. If you need to cast Remand on one of your own spells for the cantripping ability, you would have probably been better off just Scouring on an earlier turn so you didn't have to be put into that situation
- Remand is really bad against burn most of the time. Yes, countering a turn 2 Eidolon is good, but it sucks against the majority of their spells, and is not something I want to be seeing in postboard games. I do agree with you that Remand is really good against all the Tron variants. I will say, however, that basically the only turn 2 plays that could completely shut us down are Eidolon, Thalia, and potentially Leonin Arbiter depending on what your hand looks like. Chalice on 1 doesn't affect us much, and the odds of Etron hitting natural tron into Chalice on 2 turn 3 is pretty low, so I see that as a corner case. RIP can also be a challenge, but if you were expecting it your SB plan should be able to get around that
- Caleb actually did lose in the quarterfinals against Etron. He also lost to 2 Grixis Shadow decks in the Swiss, but his sideboard looks pretty good for that matchup and Remand is again not fantastic against Shadow because all of their spells are really cheap
- And I totally agree that Pieces is excellent, I'm running a couple at the moment in the board.
Remand is not an incorrect card to play by any means, but I think if you want to use it you want to be further on the Grapeshot-Remand-Grapeshot gameplan like some other lists we've seen here in the thread. The minimization of variance in those decks' cases is the fact that they can make that specific line quite often because they run 4 Remand and 3-4 Grapeshot
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Modern UR Storm URB Grixis Delver W Death and Taxes
Basically anything with Scalding Tarn
I'm about to buy into the deck and currently deciding my list. My question is about the mana base, each deck I see seems to use different lands. Is there any consensus on a standard mana base? And why it differs so much from one list to another?
Thanks!
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My sideboard as it stands is mostly to dodge the GY hate or leylines of sanctity from the opposite side - so grapeshots become empties and some gifts/past become epic experiments. The only dedicated piece in my 15 is arguably Shatterstorm - but I only run 1 piece and it wrecks that deck so hard, I give it a slot. Moons buy a ton of time against tricolor decks, and last but not least I have the removals/answers - a pair of dismembers and a bounce spell.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
I know it sucks that you would have to devote more than a quarter of your sideboard to one deck. But you make it seem like you face that deck once or twice every week without fail, and there's a number of people on that deck. If that's the case, then it's very much CORRECT to devote that much to a bad matchup that's prevalent.
If it's one person that plays the deck, don't change the board and accept that you likely just lose to him and hope not to get paired against him.
If it's a large percentage of the field playing this deck, board heavily for it, or pick a different deck that preys on their choice of deck.
Those are your options, plain and simple.
Currently Playing:
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BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Repeal: I see a lot of decks running repeal, but I can't figure out why. Can someone explain to me why people play repeal? It just seems so bad since it is usually going to cost at least 3 for most of the relevant threats while more echoing truths can do the job.
Swan Song: What does everyone think about the sideboard swan song vs dispel or even negate?
Main deck Empty the Warrens: This has always confused me since empty seems like a bad card game one in most matchups. We didn't use to run maindeck empties in the old versions of storm, so what changed that has made maindeck empties good now? or is it even good?
Remand: I see a lot of people running 3-4 remands in their lists and while I think it is a good card, running so many remands seem to go against our game plan of being proactive. I run 2 but can anyone explain the reasoning behind the full playset?
White Splash: Also what does everyone think about the white splash? Storm had won a modern classic recently with it. How does the path and wear/tear compare with echoing truth/ dismember? Does dismember's life cost too much?
Finally I always have trouble actually sideboarding between games so if anyone explain to me what cards are bad in what matchups and what cards are good would be much appreciated. For instance, when I sideboard I always sideboard out the flex slots of remands, peer through depths and noxious revival first and sometimes a cost reducer. Is this correct?
I am new to this forum so I do not know how to use the deck tools, but this is my list. Feedback is much appreciated. I'm sorry I asked a lot of questions at once.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/20-03-16-gifts-storm/
Decklist:
Creatures
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
4x Goblin Electromancer
Instant
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Manamorphose
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Remand
2x Peer Through Depths
1x Noxious Revival
Sorcery
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Past in Flames
2x Grapeshot
Lands
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Flooded Strand
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Shivan Reef
4x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Sideboard:
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Blood Moon
2x Echoing Truth
2x Empty the Warrens
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pieces of the Puzzle
1x Shattering Spree
2x Swan Song
--Repeal is a way to bounce Rest in Peace/Leyline/eidolon that also draws a card, I have to assume that's the reason people would play it over echoing truth.
--I LOVE swan song over negate/dispel, because most of the cards that we really hate are instants, sorceries or enchantments. Them getting a 2/2 isn't ideal, but in 90% of the times you're casting it a 2/2 flier is much less a threat than whatever you countered, or you're winning that turn.
--Maindeck EtW I think was to potentially diversify threats. But as the deck has evolved, playing 3 grapeshot main gives us the best odds to win game 1, and if we see them boarding in grave hate, we switch to the Empty plan and win that way.
--2 Remand is stock, it's a soft counter that makes it harder to stop us going off, and with Baral it's "draw 2 discard 1." which is really good. The extra two copies are a flex spot that people can use if they really like it, but I prefer Peer Through Depths in its place personally.
--A white splash for Path and Wear//Tear seems cute, and if you want to try it go ahead. I'm not sure there's necessarily enough space for it in the mana base, though. You could also potentialy splash black instead for Collective Brutality and Nihil Spellbomb if you feel you need graveyard hate, but that seems similarly shaky. Overall straight UR seems best.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Any matchup questions, I'm keen to reply.
With regards to bounce spells. Bounce is stock because it just answers any permanent based hate either during the combo (right before the grapeshot to bounce leyline of sanctity or runed halo) or at EOT against GY hate before our gifts turn etc. With regards to choice of bounce though, this is where it gets fun:
Echoing Truth: The most popular option, because sometimes the opponent starts with TWO leyline of the void/sanctity. Because nobody sides 1 copy of a leyline. Likewise, people don't play a single copy of eidolon. Quirks of this card include being able to blow out a Tokens opponent.
Repeal: The most obvious upside is the draw. Against Affinity this can be a 1 mana bounce spell with no card loss, which can be very useful in a race, which Affinity often is.
Into the Roil: Similar to Repeal, you gain some flexibility in exchange for a flat rate. So its not as good against affinity, or anything up to 2 cmc. At 3 CMC or higher, you're advantaged over Repeal. In a pinch you can choose to skip the card draw and just pay 1U or U with reducer out.
Boomerang: The only bounce spell that can hit a land, this option lets you put the opponent 2 lands behind on the play. Not a significant enough upside over the others, generally.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Running 0 fetches to fade leonin arbiter is a very interesting meta choice, but yeah the threat of blood moon is a very appealing reason to be on the fetch plan to get your basic islands. I think if your meta is lousy with hatebears then it's worth considering, though they've other tricks that can be even bigger pains in the ass (I saw at FNM this past week a restore balance deck respond to a 20-storm grapeshot with a quickened Oketra's Last Mercy after most of them resolved. The salt was so thick you could attract deer with it.)
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Many thanks to HotP Studios. Special thanks to DNC for this great sig.
Went 0-3 to drop from a PPTQ last Saturday. Round one was burn and I simply got rolled. Round two was BW tokens where I won game one, but lost games two and three as he boarded in TWELVE cards including Leyline of Sanctity, Lost Legacy, and Zealous Persecution to effectively shut down all ways I could win. Round three was a Grixis Delver player I've went against before. I don't have another qualifier for about two weeks, but yeah that was a rough go of things.
I don't think Blood Moon is that great vs Gifts Storm anyway, since who in their right mind will side them in against a UR deck?
Even if they have them mainboard, you can still make blue mana with Manamorphose
Scherer also dropped Remand from his list, which I personally like. By reintroducing Thought Scour into the deck and playing 2 Peer, the card velocity of the deck increases. You see more cards, which in turn makes the deck more consistent. For those of us that were on previous iterations of the deck with Pyromancer's Ascension, you'll remember that card velocity was one of the fundamental principles that made the deck tick, and even though this version of Storm is a bit different, the underlying idea that velocity lowers variance is still there. Just look at Death's Shadow, for example; they churn through their deck with cantrips and Street Wraith, and each of their games plays very similarly because this variance is reduced. With us, we need to churn through more of our deck to ensure we're mitigating variance as well. This is especially pertinent for Storm because we need so many pieces to come together at once, with Gifts being the keystone of the whole plan.
While we do lose out on the Grapeshot-Remand lines, playing 3 Grapeshot somewhat mitigates this issue. Scherer said on Twitter that Remand either wins the game or is a dead draw; I tend to move away from cards that are either amazing or dead manindeck, especially in a deck like this, so I believe that there's justification for cutting Remand.
This deck is all about statistics, and this build is an excellent example of minimizing variance
UR Storm
URB Grixis Delver
W Death and Taxes
Basically anything with Scalding Tarn
- Scour digs deeper than Remand, as it lets you see 3 cards instead of 1 fresh one. Occasionally Remand lets you see 2 if Baral is out.
- Scour doesn't require your opponent to cast something. If you need to cast Remand on one of your own spells for the cantripping ability, you would have probably been better off just Scouring on an earlier turn so you didn't have to be put into that situation
- Remand is really bad against burn most of the time. Yes, countering a turn 2 Eidolon is good, but it sucks against the majority of their spells, and is not something I want to be seeing in postboard games. I do agree with you that Remand is really good against all the Tron variants. I will say, however, that basically the only turn 2 plays that could completely shut us down are Eidolon, Thalia, and potentially Leonin Arbiter depending on what your hand looks like. Chalice on 1 doesn't affect us much, and the odds of Etron hitting natural tron into Chalice on 2 turn 3 is pretty low, so I see that as a corner case. RIP can also be a challenge, but if you were expecting it your SB plan should be able to get around that
- Caleb actually did lose in the quarterfinals against Etron. He also lost to 2 Grixis Shadow decks in the Swiss, but his sideboard looks pretty good for that matchup and Remand is again not fantastic against Shadow because all of their spells are really cheap
- And I totally agree that Pieces is excellent, I'm running a couple at the moment in the board.
Remand is not an incorrect card to play by any means, but I think if you want to use it you want to be further on the Grapeshot-Remand-Grapeshot gameplan like some other lists we've seen here in the thread. The minimization of variance in those decks' cases is the fact that they can make that specific line quite often because they run 4 Remand and 3-4 Grapeshot
UR Storm
URB Grixis Delver
W Death and Taxes
Basically anything with Scalding Tarn
Thanks!