Chaos Reigns Chaotic AEther (it's the only spoiled card with "chaos" or "chaotic" in the name) Time Distortion (this fits best into the chaotic deck)
Night of the Ninja Morphic Tide (this interacts strongly with Ninjutsu and Vela's abilities) Interplanar Tunnel (based on the fact that this is the only blue deck in PC2012 and this phenomenon is essentially 'Plane-Scry 5')
Primordial Hunger Reality Shaping (this interacts with devour, but this does NOT interact with cascade. we are placing onto the battlefield, not casting) Spatial Merging (has this been confirmed?)
Savage Auras Planewide Disaster (interacts well with totem armor) Mutual Epiphany (frankly, this is the leftover phenomenon, after I place all other 7 in their proper decks. also, Selesnya is a very community-minded guild)
My plane Predictions:
Aside from the ones confirmed by the fronts of the packaging, these seem very likely:
Aretopolis in Night of the Ninja (blue decks like card draw) or in Savage Auras (see Selesnya comment in Mutual Epiphany) Grand Ossuary in Primordial Hunger (duh) Grove of the Dreampods in Primordial Hunger (again, placing a creature onto the battlefield, not casting, means it does not interact with cascade) Hedron Fields of Agadeem in anything but Primordial Hunger. This seems built to mess around with that deck by pacifying their fatties and giving everybody else access to fatties. If I had to pick one deck, it would be Night of the Ninja, since this gives them more defensive holes for their creatures to slip by unblocked for Ninjutsu. Kharasha Foothills in Night of the Ninja (one of those copies is bound to get through unblocked for Ninjutsu to trigger!) Lair of the Ashen Idol in Primordial Hunger (which is the deck that can will consistently have that many spare creatures to sacrifice) Norn's Dominion in Savage Auras (see Planar Disaster comments) or in Primordial Hunger (keep the fatties, devour the rest) Quicksilver Sea in Chaos Reigns (this was previewed together with Illusory Angel by Patrick Chapin) Selesnya Loft Gardens in Primordial Hunger (duh) Talon Gates in Chaos Reigns (casting from suspend enables cascade shenanigans!)
To add to Tykimeister's comments:
Against the current incarnations of RDW (red deck wins), you would also want to side in your Phyrexian Vatmothers. 5 toughness is quite hard for mono-red to get rid of, and it is one of the few competitive decks that doesn't run Inkmoth Nexus (so that your Vatmother's drawback doesn't help your opponent).
I swear by having 4 Distress personally, but I've seen lists with and without discard cards. Of those lists that run discard, people are leaning towards maxing out on Distress and using Despise sparingly. I run a Despise only as a 5th Distress.
I like Distress, because it can remove a lot of the issues that we otherwise could not: enchantments, artifacts, etc. It can also remove threats that will cause a lot more headaches if we let it hit the battlefield at all: Primeval Titan, Sun Titan, etc.
(Also, it can't hurt to have information about the cards in their hand.)
We need evasive infect bodies that will make Lashwrithe a threat no matter what creature you have out (and Trigon of Rage, if you are running that, too). Plague Stinger fits the bill. 4-of in just about every MBI deck.
3-1 means 3wins-1loss, not just in MTG, but in all competitive events throughout the world. You should know this, or you'll confuse more people in the future.
I don't know how (if) you prepared for playing this deck, but I'll put out a couple of guesses that might help anybody who is new to this deck:
1) Practice mulliganing with this deck. This deck can keep smaller hands than the average deck, since you'll just be cycling and drawing for most of the game, and you should be less worried about going to 5 or 4 cards than you are used to.
2) This deck eats aggro decks alive. If your life total is starting to go critical, you can still "go off" with fewer creatures in the yard than you are used to. They probably don't have much gas in the tank after their board gets removed. (Protection from black shouldn't have stopped you from doing any of this.)
3) That being said, turn 3 is usually NOT the ideal turn to cascade, unless you have a god hand that involves multiple Street Wraith. I usually find myself combo-ing out on turn 4, 5, or 6. (Instant speed Violent Outburst at the end of their turn is preferred, so that you can set up for a surprise attack on your turn.)
4) 4 Ricochet Trap in your sideboard against control decks.
Cyclers are vital to this deck. (Are you forgetting to draw a card when you cycle?)
Also, can we see the list w/sideboard that you ran at the tournament?
I actually sideboard OUT 2 Black Sun's Zenith to make room for a few more instant speed removal (for Inkmoth Nexus).
(The match I lost was in a really dumb game 3. After a ton of attrition, we got to the point where we both had Lashwrithes on board and top-decking. The person who drew a creature first would win. He drew a Spellskite and I lost to a double-Lashwrithed 18/22 attacker. Good times.)
I'm going to attempt to answer, but the incoming transmission was a little fuzzy.
RE: Liliana of the Veil
I haven't played across the table from her myself. I just hope that I'll have enough of flyers to get over there and smack her for 1 ,if she uses her sacrifice ability when she comes onto the battlefield.
RE: Sweepers
Try and lay down 1 threat at a time, unless you know that they don't have a sweeper in hand (peeking with Despise or Distress). Also, Inkmoth Nexus dodges most sweepers like a champ (b/c of sorcery speed). Don't lose your Inkmoths by getting suckered into 2-for-1 blocks from Midnight Haunting, though.
RE: Counterspells & Removal
Lay down your threats from least to most threatening. Try and clear their hand out of countermagic and removal BEFORE you cast your game-winners. I am usually happy to bait out their counters/removal 1-for-1 for most of the game. I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this forum, but information is worth it's weight in gold for us. Play your Despise and Distress on turns 1 or 2 every time against control and you'll have an easier next few turns.
I think you hit the nail on the head already. It's much more mana intensive (6 mana to cast and equip) than Lashwrithe, considering that you'd pay 4 life to equip every time in the Infect mirror.
I would suggest adding 2 Strata Scythe as Lashwrithe #5 & 6 ONLY if your gameplan involves drawing into a nutty piece of equipment more quickly than your opponent.
Then again, in the mirror, I'd opt for Sword of Feast and Famine, because it gives your beater protection from black. Good thing I'm in the same boat as you, being the only MBI player in my meta right now. I don't think I can afford a pair of SoFaF right now just for the mirror match.
Only problem is that they are probably already boarding in their artifact hate against you, so sideboarding in more artifacts seems like playing right into them. The other benefit to spellbomb is the cantrip. Not to say Surgical Extraction doesn't have a place in the board, it very likely does, but I'm not sure that what it does completely replaces the spellbomb.
On the contrary, since we would never sideboard out our Lashwrithe, playing a few more artifacts is going to force them to split their artifact hate across more targets. A destroyed Nihil Spellbomb now saves your Lashwrithe from that piece of artifact removal later.
Unfortunately, you can't run Confidant 'cause your CMC is still kind of high and you can't run Goyf 'cause the graveyard won't be much help. You mostly want to side in control cards anyway, since you've already got plenty of creatures. Deadshot will almost always simply serve as a cantrip, which is nice 'cause 19 ain't a lot of lands. Viscera Dragger may be used similarly. Early turns will pretty much always be discard stuff.
If you're going into the all-15-in sideboard, you could replace some or all of your Terminate and Liliana with up to 3 lands to make up for the low post-sideboard land count.
Against Birthing Pod: I guess this could pull one of their end-game creatures, but I haven't really seen any Pod decks for over a month, so I'm not sure what the latest tech is for that deck.
Onakke Catacomb in Primordial Hunger (weenies benefit the most from universal deathtouch)
Chaos Reigns
Chaotic AEther (it's the only spoiled card with "chaos" or "chaotic" in the name)
Time Distortion (this fits best into the chaotic deck)
Night of the Ninja
Morphic Tide (this interacts strongly with Ninjutsu and Vela's abilities)
Interplanar Tunnel (based on the fact that this is the only blue deck in PC2012 and this phenomenon is essentially 'Plane-Scry 5')
Primordial Hunger
Reality Shaping (this interacts with devour, but this does NOT interact with cascade. we are placing onto the battlefield, not casting)
Spatial Merging (has this been confirmed?)
Savage Auras
Planewide Disaster (interacts well with totem armor)
Mutual Epiphany (frankly, this is the leftover phenomenon, after I place all other 7 in their proper decks. also, Selesnya is a very community-minded guild)
My plane Predictions:
Aside from the ones confirmed by the fronts of the packaging, these seem very likely:
Aretopolis in Night of the Ninja (blue decks like card draw) or in Savage Auras (see Selesnya comment in Mutual Epiphany)
Grand Ossuary in Primordial Hunger (duh)
Grove of the Dreampods in Primordial Hunger (again, placing a creature onto the battlefield, not casting, means it does not interact with cascade)
Hedron Fields of Agadeem in anything but Primordial Hunger. This seems built to mess around with that deck by pacifying their fatties and giving everybody else access to fatties. If I had to pick one deck, it would be Night of the Ninja, since this gives them more defensive holes for their creatures to slip by unblocked for Ninjutsu.
Kharasha Foothills in Night of the Ninja (one of those copies is bound to get through unblocked for Ninjutsu to trigger!)
Lair of the Ashen Idol in Primordial Hunger (which is the deck that can will consistently have that many spare creatures to sacrifice)
Norn's Dominion in Savage Auras (see Planar Disaster comments) or in Primordial Hunger (keep the fatties, devour the rest)
Quicksilver Sea in Chaos Reigns (this was previewed together with Illusory Angel by Patrick Chapin)
Selesnya Loft Gardens in Primordial Hunger (duh)
Talon Gates in Chaos Reigns (casting from suspend enables cascade shenanigans!)
Against the current incarnations of RDW (red deck wins), you would also want to side in your Phyrexian Vatmothers. 5 toughness is quite hard for mono-red to get rid of, and it is one of the few competitive decks that doesn't run Inkmoth Nexus (so that your Vatmother's drawback doesn't help your opponent).
Against token decks, side in sweepers like Ratchet Bomb and Black Sun's Zenith. Side out any sacrifice-type of removal (Tribute to Hunger, Geth's Verdict, Liliana of the Veil).
Against Solar Flare, a flashback-heavy deck, or anything else using Unburial Rites or Snapcaster Mage, side in Nihil Spellbomb. Side out your smaller removal (Virulent Wound).
And all flipped werewolves! (y'know, when they become competitive someday)
I like Distress, because it can remove a lot of the issues that we otherwise could not: enchantments, artifacts, etc. It can also remove threats that will cause a lot more headaches if we let it hit the battlefield at all: Primeval Titan, Sun Titan, etc.
(Also, it can't hurt to have information about the cards in their hand.)
I don't know how (if) you prepared for playing this deck, but I'll put out a couple of guesses that might help anybody who is new to this deck:
1) Practice mulliganing with this deck. This deck can keep smaller hands than the average deck, since you'll just be cycling and drawing for most of the game, and you should be less worried about going to 5 or 4 cards than you are used to.
2) This deck eats aggro decks alive. If your life total is starting to go critical, you can still "go off" with fewer creatures in the yard than you are used to. They probably don't have much gas in the tank after their board gets removed. (Protection from black shouldn't have stopped you from doing any of this.)
3) That being said, turn 3 is usually NOT the ideal turn to cascade, unless you have a god hand that involves multiple Street Wraith. I usually find myself combo-ing out on turn 4, 5, or 6. (Instant speed Violent Outburst at the end of their turn is preferred, so that you can set up for a surprise attack on your turn.)
4) 4 Ricochet Trap in your sideboard against control decks.
Cyclers are vital to this deck. (Are you forgetting to draw a card when you cycle?)
Also, can we see the list w/sideboard that you ran at the tournament?
Virulent Wound (duh)
Distress (for Lashwrithe and information)
Go for the Throat (for Phyrexian Crusader)
Dismember (1-mana removal with "no drawback")
Sword of Feast and Famine (sideboard tech)
Caress of Phyrexia (aimed at the opponent, they never see it coming)
I actually sideboard OUT 2 Black Sun's Zenith to make room for a few more instant speed removal (for Inkmoth Nexus).
(The match I lost was in a really dumb game 3. After a ton of attrition, we got to the point where we both had Lashwrithes on board and top-decking. The person who drew a creature first would win. He drew a Spellskite and I lost to a double-Lashwrithed 18/22 attacker. Good times.)
RE: Liliana of the Veil
I haven't played across the table from her myself. I just hope that I'll have enough of flyers to get over there and smack her for 1 ,if she uses her sacrifice ability when she comes onto the battlefield.
RE: Sweepers
Try and lay down 1 threat at a time, unless you know that they don't have a sweeper in hand (peeking with Despise or Distress). Also, Inkmoth Nexus dodges most sweepers like a champ (b/c of sorcery speed). Don't lose your Inkmoths by getting suckered into 2-for-1 blocks from Midnight Haunting, though.
RE: Counterspells & Removal
Lay down your threats from least to most threatening. Try and clear their hand out of countermagic and removal BEFORE you cast your game-winners. I am usually happy to bait out their counters/removal 1-for-1 for most of the game. I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this forum, but information is worth it's weight in gold for us. Play your Despise and Distress on turns 1 or 2 every time against control and you'll have an easier next few turns.
I think you hit the nail on the head already. It's much more mana intensive (6 mana to cast and equip) than Lashwrithe, considering that you'd pay 4 life to equip every time in the Infect mirror.
I would suggest adding 2 Strata Scythe as Lashwrithe #5 & 6 ONLY if your gameplan involves drawing into a nutty piece of equipment more quickly than your opponent.
Then again, in the mirror, I'd opt for Sword of Feast and Famine, because it gives your beater protection from black. Good thing I'm in the same boat as you, being the only MBI player in my meta right now. I don't think I can afford a pair of SoFaF right now just for the mirror match.
Also: Happy Veteran's Day, USMC!
On the contrary, since we would never sideboard out our Lashwrithe, playing a few more artifacts is going to force them to split their artifact hate across more targets. A destroyed Nihil Spellbomb now saves your Lashwrithe from that piece of artifact removal later.
If you're going into the all-15-in sideboard, you could replace some or all of your Terminate and Liliana with up to 3 lands to make up for the low post-sideboard land count.
Against Solar Flare: They usually pack a lot of 1-of creatures in their deck. Some troublesome ones that come to mind are Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and anything big with flying like Rune-Scarred Demon or Consecrated Sphinx.
Against Birthing Pod: I guess this could pull one of their end-game creatures, but I haven't really seen any Pod decks for over a month, so I'm not sure what the latest tech is for that deck.
Against U/W Blade: Pulling a Sword of X&Y seems pretty amazing. (Phyrexian Crusader equipped with a Sword of Feast and Famine seems good.)
In the MBI mirror: 3 mana to tutor THEIR Lashwrithe? Seems VERY good. =D
Against RDW, Tokens, Illusions & random non-black decks: They run 4-of anything card that we'd want to get rid of. Bad card.