Team America Recently did well at the Richmond Open placing 10 and 14 respectively. Has there been a major consensuses yet on if Hymn or Sinkhole still have a place in the deck? Interestingly both decks had Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the sideboard.
I'm playing this list -4 Sinkhole, -4 Thoughtseize, +4 Hymn, +4 Spell Pierce and I'm loving it. I do like Spell Pierce a lot better than Thoughtseize in this deck though. Makes them invest mana first and allows you to Stifle instead if they lead with a fetch.
Actually I think I have 2 Bayous also. Bayou is pretty much always the second land I want to play.
I think Phyrexian Dreadnought could work, but you'd want to run more stifle effects. Maybe 4x stifle and 2x trickbind? Also, maybe I'm not understanding the point of this deck, but more card destruction seems good. Not Pernicious deed though, that's a bit too expensive. Maybe Engineered Explosives?
This deck did extremely well at the last SCG (finished 4th, 5th, 7th & 14th). Will be interesting to see if it's still well positioned at the next one, or if the predators for come out in force like Drew outlined in his SCG article here
What's the plan against First Turn, Empty the Warrens against Combo?
regards
Counter acceleration before they reach critical mana. Stifle the storm-trigger on their EtW-ultimate. Blow up tokens using Maelstrom Pulse or Engineered Explosives. You can't win every match of course, but I think the (storm) combo matchup is fairly positive.
Yeah sinkhole is a 1 for 1 while hymn to tourach is a 2 for 1. Hymn makes your combo MU even better while sinkhole is situational against combo, horrendous against aggro, and against control it's okay while hymn can beat control singlehandedly.
Combo is what this deck WANTS to face. Did you see what happened to Ari Lax when he faced this deck? He got curb stomped and he said it going into top 8, team america is his worst MU. Stifle storm trigger on EtW, counter seething song, burning wish, mana that gets them to 4 mana, really isn't that hard.
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Played The Rock, Enchantress, Zoo, and Belcher. The only game I dropped was to Zoo and it was pretty abysmal. I tried squeezing Thoughtseize in this deck all week during testing, but found that it really is hard to play when you are running 4 Stifle. I didn't like the cross synergies with Tombstalker and Goyf so decided to cut one Stalker for a Clique as well as a predict for a clique. The Clique was really good for me all day. It increased your clock usually by a whole turn if you also had a stalker in play. I even got to block a Dark Confidant! The Rock was pretty tough but I managed to stick an early Stalker that got there. Enchantress was a cake walk after having turn two hymn with fow back up both games. Belcher was hilarious as i easily took game one and topped decked a EE the turn after he emptied the warrens for 12. I think I could have taken the zoo match up if he didn't have triple wasteland both games, + bad moon backed up by Red blast game two
Sidebaord choices were mostly meta and were pretty on. There was a Tezz affinity list and a Mono Brown so I think the Rods were a good call. Damnation may seem odd, but it was pretty good for me in testing helping with zoo, gobos and folk. It might not be right though and deserves more testing. Hymn just seems to good to not be a four of. I'm thinking about cutting a snuffout for one, a ponder, or possibly a clique (prob ponder). The card on turn two is just absurd when having counter backup. Didn't play darkblast for meta game reasons which was probably a mistake. I am also seriously considering cutting the Jaces as they don't seem as relevant as they should. What decks exactly are these really good against? Would also like to fit in some pulses if possible to help with the aggro matchups while still having game against pesky artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers. Got blown out by a resolved Elspeth one game against Zoo. All in all though I'm really happy with the deck and can't wait to play it more. The shear power of this deck is really staggering. Any feedback would be much appreciated!
Edit: Played this deck again a week later and won the tourney this time. Made 1 maindeck change and a few sideboard slots because of meta.
I'm looking to start playing this deck after playing Junk for a while, and I had a few questions
- I really liked the look of GerryT's list from Dallas, but nobody else seems to be running Dark Confidants. Near as I can tell, he bailed on Snuff Out and decreased the Thoughtseizes in order to run Bob. Any thoughts on that move?
- If I don't run Gerry's list, then the Jaces seem to end up in the sideboard. If that happens, what do the Jaces come in against? I'm not entirely clear what matchups he shines in.
- I've never played a deck with Stifle before. Other than stifling a fetchland, is it ever not card disadvantage? all the other uses I see for it seem to involve throwing away a card for some tempo, which may be all this deck wants to do, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.
- Gerry ran 22 lands in his list. Can I assume that was because he reliably wanted to cast JTMS? If I cut Jace, would going down to 20 or 21 make more sense?
Gerry's list is a lot closer to BUG Thresh than Team America. Probably you'll get better information in that thread (it might be called "Dark Thresh" here).
I am really interested in building this deck, as i am currently only missing two cards which are both tropical islands and can easily be obtained. BUt i am curious as too which specific decks/ archtypes does team america have bad match ups against. Besides super fast combo decks as pointed out by warden in the primer. Along with which spells have you found to be best in the deck that are not in the primer, and which you find to be sub-par.
Thanks in advance
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We play TES because we are rock n' roll, not teen idols like ANT players, nor do we like to talk about how deep and sentimental bluegrass is, and how you really have to give the obscure and traditional artists instead of the mainstream bluegrass peeps like the Doomsday players do. And we definitely don't like classical music like those lame and boring High Tide players. Basically what I'm saying is that TES likes to party, the rest of the storm decks are boring and lame.
Stifle has a lot more applications than just hitting fetchland activations. That's often the best target for it, but it is exceedingly rare that the card is a throwaway or totally dead in a matchup. I would say that the card is only dead (and by dead, I mean that using it generated card disadvantage as you mentioned and is only a tempo play) maybe 15-20% of the time in a varied Legacy metagame.
I play Bant/UGR threshold exclusively in Legacy and honestly curse Force of Will for being in my deck in matches (seriously, it's the worst against some decks) more than Stifle.
Stifle has a lot more applications than just hitting fetchland activations. That's often the best target for it, but it is exceedingly rare that the card is a throwaway or totally dead in a matchup. I would say that the card is only dead (and by dead, I mean that using it generated card disadvantage as you mentioned and is only a tempo play) maybe 15-20% of the time in a varied Legacy metagame.
I play Bant/UGR threshold exclusively in Legacy and honestly curse Force of Will for being in my deck in matches (seriously, it's the worst against some decks) more than Stifle.
Can you give some examples? I can think of lots of effects I can stifle, but not many that dont' generate card disadvantage . . .
Can you give some examples? I can think of lots of effects I can stifle, but not many that dont' generate card disadvantage . . .
Three sets of examples from three very popular decks:
Goblins - Basically all of their dudes but Warchief. Piledriver +X power bonus is a single trigger (and is not pro blue of course), so you can stifle it and block with any 2/2 and he dies. Matron, Ringleader, Siege-Gang ETB triggers all disrupt the Goblins player and trade your card costing U for their Demonic Tutor/Fact or Fiction/three tokens, which is a good trade.
Dredge - Hitting Nacromoeba triggers can keep Cabal Therapy/Zombie Tokens at bay. Huge blowout if they try to Cephalid Colosseum on you. Can keep you from just dying to a blind Flame-Kin Zealot turn giving you a chance to cantrip into something like Engineered Explosives.
Death and Taxes/Green and Taxes - Karakas triggers to shut off the Mangara combo, ETB trigger from Stoneforge Mystic, Knight of the Reliquary activations (hey nice land you sacrificed there), Pridemage activations, Oblivion Ring.
Most decks have more than one thing you can hit for value. Some, like that MUD deck with Kuldotha Forgemaster, have activated triggers of blowout proportions. Others just give you card-for-card value while usually costing much less resources, and the card seriously messes with opponent's minds, even good ones.
Hey everyone. I do not normally play legacy (mostly due to lack of interest where I live) but we have a fairly big legacy tournament on Saturday and thanks to a friend I'm borrowing Team America. Here is my current list
I'm still testing between Tombstalker and Dark Confidant. The list is sort of a mix between Gerry Thompson's list and Edgar Flores from the most recent SCG opens. I would test more and figure out some of my own choices but I only got the deck two days ago so I figure I'd just take pro lists and tweak them.
I predict a pretty aggro heavy meta with a splash of combo, since that is what we had the last time we had a big legacy tournament. Lots of Goblins, Fish, Zoo, Affinity, and then some storm. Is there any advice anyone can give in playing these match ups? I am a pretty strong magic player but I don't know much about Legacy in general. Also, would you go for Confidants or Tombstalkers?
I'd go for tombstalkers. Your deck has 8 threat that can win games counting Jace, and although you run tons and tons of control, the deck is famous for running out of gas t5+ so having tombstalker to end the game faster is, IMO the way to go. Also with the ammount of fetchs, cantrips, free counters, discard, etc.... you're going to be spending your first few turns denying, and removing. After that you're probably better off to drop a big fat flying beat stick rather than give them more time to get back into the game.
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Maverick -- Storm Click here for trade thread
Trade thread under reconstruction. Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
So one of my buddies is playing this deck, and yesterday he ask me why people are running go for the throat over smother. To me as well it doesn't really make that much of sense since go for the throat has a lot more creatures it cant hit( or more relevant ones) . For example, it can't hit metal worker, painter servant, dreadnought, and creatures in affinity. The only creature that I think that is really relevant that go for the throat hits is tombstalker. If not to much trouble I would like to hear reasons why you guys play go for the throat over smother. Thanks
I don't know since I think cards like deed are very slow for this kind of deck since you run all non basics and getting to 3 mana seems like a lot, especially against decks running port and wasteland. I get what you mean though, but I still feel that smother is still strictly better since I find it not as dead as often. It could be a meta thing, or a playstyle, but I don't like the fact that go for the throat can't hit mishra's factory, or painter servant, and metal worker. By no means am I saying that I am right since I haven't really played this deck, but my buddy loves this style so I am trying to get info for him to make the best possible deck so if anyone else thinks I am wrong or rather have a different view I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you for taking the time Alteryoda to give me your thoughts.
that is true but I have seen painter base decks still run reb which can screw over mana base. I easily think that worker base decks can put pressure on you and ruin your mana base at the same time. when they are casting their lodestone golem making everything cost more and coming that with wasteland I think they can easily put pressure and disrupt you pretty easily but that is my opinion. Same thing with lands as well putting pressure on you with factory and wrecking your mana base with port and wasteland.
Round 1 - Win vs Bant (Caleb Durward's non natural order list)
Round 2 - Win vs Charbelcher
Round 3 - Tie vs High Tide
Round 4 - Win vs Dave Gearhart's Tezz/Thopter deck
Round 5 - ID into Top 8
Top 8
Round 1 - Win vs High Tide
Round 2 - Loss to Painter/Grindstone on the Emrakul board package.
Had some notes and questions
- I really wanted to play a few more threats, so I added the 2 Cliques. After playing with them, I'm taking them back out as they just weren't relevant enough. I need to be using a faster clock, and they just don't cut it.
- I'm seriously considering moving Jace to the board, especially for providence where I expect to see a lot of High Tide, a deck he is useless against.
- With those cuts, I expect to make room for a fourth Hymn to Tourach and a Predict or two. Probably going to add 2 Predict 1 Hymn and 1 Sylvan Library.
Questions
- I still have not played against Merfolk with this list. How vital is Llawan? She's so useless against the rest of the field and I haven't seen much merfolk out there, so I'm considering cutting her from the board
- Dan Signorini's list from DC had 2 Dispel in the board, which seems like a great card to bring in vs High Tide. Spell Pierce was good for me in that matchup in the round I won, and Dispel would've been even better. What else is it good against?
- I'm seriously considering only running 3 Daze. Is this a silly idea? I'm used to Daze in merfolk where you can counter something early and still have a board presence. My experience here has been when I daze something early, I'm way behind and have to fight to keep up, and late Daze isn't any good.
- Any thoughts on Smother over Go for the Throat? It kills Painter, Metalworker, and Ravager, while really only striking out against Tombstalker or Abyssal Persecutor, so I'm pretty dead to monoblack if I cut GffT but I think I'm better against a broader variety of decks.
wow im almost running the exact same list as you it's kind of crazy. basically +2 sylvan library, +1 hymn, +1 stifle, +1 predict, -2 jace, -1, ponder, -1 daze, -1 misty rainforest. i am not playing jace main obviously. i bring him out of the board and he's really good there but i don't like him main. i am currently running 2 sylvan library and the card has been good for me. i am also running a miser predict and i am still on the fence with this.
i too think the cliques don't do enough and i plan on cutting them with the addition of mental misstep from new phyrexia.
basically cuts will go -2 clique, -1 daze, -1 predict, +3 misstep, + 1 tombstalker. i am also liking the idea of kira, but w/ stp protection via misstep it might be over kill. i have a hard time cutting the libraries as they always seem good and the matchups the are not good against usually involve quasali pridemage so it makes it an easy cut game 2.
i have found pulse to be excellent out of the board. i am also running a pair of terravores in the board for extra threat density that also trumps KotR in p/t. i am currently running 1 llawan in the board and if i can make it out to providence will run 2. this deck just looses to merfolk and with all the recent success in the stg opens as well as combos dominance i think the meta will be very heavy team america. with this in mind people will gun for it thus i expect there to be a lot of merfolk too.
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Currently Playing Standard UB Tezzeret Control Legacy UBG Team America UBR The Epic Storm UB Stax UW Thopter Top UG Hogworts
Kira: the best addition to the deck in a long time.
Terravore: big ol trampler. big body is good.
And regarding the 3 daze... 3 Daze has been better than 4 Daze in this deck for me for a long time.
What of the land count? I run 22, but I have considered going down to 21... thoughts on this?
And I am experimenting with Misstep and a super secret tech. Since it could be embarrassing if it doesn't play out well, I'll wait to announce what it is until I know if it's good.
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Decklists
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=35757
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=35761
His interpretation (which seems correct to me) is that Jace only shines against control. This was especially true when 50% of the format was Survival.
Sinkhole has no place, but you should always find room for Hymn.
"New Tech" includes Sylvan Library.
I'm playing this list -4 Sinkhole, -4 Thoughtseize, +4 Hymn, +4 Spell Pierce and I'm loving it. I do like Spell Pierce a lot better than Thoughtseize in this deck though. Makes them invest mana first and allows you to Stifle instead if they lead with a fetch.
Actually I think I have 2 Bayous also. Bayou is pretty much always the second land I want to play.
Trade Thread
Modern
RWGBurnGWR
GUInfectUG
GRTronRG
UWGifts TronWU
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RGWZooWGR
Legacy
BUWTinFinsWUB
UROmniTellRU
BURTESRUB
GElves!G
GBPSIBG
RGBelcherGR
UBRGWDredgeWGRBU
UBAffinityBU
RBurnR
Vintage
UBGDoomsdayGBU
0Martello Shops0
GElves!G
UBTPSBU
UBelcherU
0Dredge0
Trade Thread
Modern
RWGBurnGWR
GUInfectUG
GRTronRG
UWGifts TronWU
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RGWZooWGR
Legacy
BUWTinFinsWUB
UROmniTellRU
BURTESRUB
GElves!G
GBPSIBG
RGBelcherGR
UBRGWDredgeWGRBU
UBAffinityBU
RBurnR
Vintage
UBGDoomsdayGBU
0Martello Shops0
GElves!G
UBTPSBU
UBelcherU
0Dredge0
Counter acceleration before they reach critical mana. Stifle the storm-trigger on their EtW-ultimate. Blow up tokens using Maelstrom Pulse or Engineered Explosives. You can't win every match of course, but I think the (storm) combo matchup is fairly positive.
Hallo uebrigens
Combo is what this deck WANTS to face. Did you see what happened to Ari Lax when he faced this deck? He got curb stomped and he said it going into top 8, team america is his worst MU. Stifle storm trigger on EtW, counter seething song, burning wish, mana that gets them to 4 mana, really isn't that hard.
Currently Playing:
Retired
Spells -26
4x Stifle
4x Brainstorm
3x Ponder
4x Daze
4x Hymn to Tourach
2x Go for the Throat
2x Snuff Out
4x Force of Will
Creatures -9
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Vendilion Clique
3x Tombstalker
2x Engineered Explosives
Enchantments -2
2x Sylvan Library
Lands -20
4x Underground Sea
2x Bayou
2x Tropical Island
4x Polluted Delta
2x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Wasteland
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Spell Pierce
1x Ghastly Demise
1x Darkblast
2x Null Rod
3x Krosan Grip
1x Damnation
1x Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Played The Rock, Enchantress, Zoo, and Belcher. The only game I dropped was to Zoo and it was pretty abysmal. I tried squeezing Thoughtseize in this deck all week during testing, but found that it really is hard to play when you are running 4 Stifle. I didn't like the cross synergies with Tombstalker and Goyf so decided to cut one Stalker for a Clique as well as a predict for a clique. The Clique was really good for me all day. It increased your clock usually by a whole turn if you also had a stalker in play. I even got to block a Dark Confidant! The Rock was pretty tough but I managed to stick an early Stalker that got there. Enchantress was a cake walk after having turn two hymn with fow back up both games. Belcher was hilarious as i easily took game one and topped decked a EE the turn after he emptied the warrens for 12. I think I could have taken the zoo match up if he didn't have triple wasteland both games, + bad moon backed up by Red blast game two
Sidebaord choices were mostly meta and were pretty on. There was a Tezz affinity list and a Mono Brown so I think the Rods were a good call. Damnation may seem odd, but it was pretty good for me in testing helping with zoo, gobos and folk. It might not be right though and deserves more testing. Hymn just seems to good to not be a four of. I'm thinking about cutting a snuffout for one, a ponder, or possibly a clique (prob ponder). The card on turn two is just absurd when having counter backup. Didn't play darkblast for meta game reasons which was probably a mistake. I am also seriously considering cutting the Jaces as they don't seem as relevant as they should. What decks exactly are these really good against? Would also like to fit in some pulses if possible to help with the aggro matchups while still having game against pesky artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers. Got blown out by a resolved Elspeth one game against Zoo. All in all though I'm really happy with the deck and can't wait to play it more. The shear power of this deck is really staggering. Any feedback would be much appreciated!
Edit: Played this deck again a week later and won the tourney this time. Made 1 maindeck change and a few sideboard slots because of meta.
Standard
UB Tezzeret Control
Legacy
UBG Team America
UBR The Epic Storm
UB Stax
UW Thopter Top
UG Hogworts
- I really liked the look of GerryT's list from Dallas, but nobody else seems to be running Dark Confidants. Near as I can tell, he bailed on Snuff Out and decreased the Thoughtseizes in order to run Bob. Any thoughts on that move?
- If I don't run Gerry's list, then the Jaces seem to end up in the sideboard. If that happens, what do the Jaces come in against? I'm not entirely clear what matchups he shines in.
- I've never played a deck with Stifle before. Other than stifling a fetchland, is it ever not card disadvantage? all the other uses I see for it seem to involve throwing away a card for some tempo, which may be all this deck wants to do, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.
- Gerry ran 22 lands in his list. Can I assume that was because he reliably wanted to cast JTMS? If I cut Jace, would going down to 20 or 21 make more sense?
Thanks for all the help guys, I appreciate it.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
Trade Thread
Modern
RWGBurnGWR
GUInfectUG
GRTronRG
UWGifts TronWU
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RGWZooWGR
Legacy
BUWTinFinsWUB
UROmniTellRU
BURTESRUB
GElves!G
GBPSIBG
RGBelcherGR
UBRGWDredgeWGRBU
UBAffinityBU
RBurnR
Vintage
UBGDoomsdayGBU
0Martello Shops0
GElves!G
UBTPSBU
UBelcherU
0Dredge0
Thanks in advance
We play TES because we are rock n' roll, not teen idols like ANT players, nor do we like to talk about how deep and sentimental bluegrass is, and how you really have to give the obscure and traditional artists instead of the mainstream bluegrass peeps like the Doomsday players do. And we definitely don't like classical music like those lame and boring High Tide players. Basically what I'm saying is that TES likes to party, the rest of the storm decks are boring and lame.
I play Bant/UGR threshold exclusively in Legacy and honestly curse Force of Will for being in my deck in matches (seriously, it's the worst against some decks) more than Stifle.
Can you give some examples? I can think of lots of effects I can stifle, but not many that dont' generate card disadvantage . . .
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
Three sets of examples from three very popular decks:
Goblins - Basically all of their dudes but Warchief. Piledriver +X power bonus is a single trigger (and is not pro blue of course), so you can stifle it and block with any 2/2 and he dies. Matron, Ringleader, Siege-Gang ETB triggers all disrupt the Goblins player and trade your card costing U for their Demonic Tutor/Fact or Fiction/three tokens, which is a good trade.
Dredge - Hitting Nacromoeba triggers can keep Cabal Therapy/Zombie Tokens at bay. Huge blowout if they try to Cephalid Colosseum on you. Can keep you from just dying to a blind Flame-Kin Zealot turn giving you a chance to cantrip into something like Engineered Explosives.
Death and Taxes/Green and Taxes - Karakas triggers to shut off the Mangara combo, ETB trigger from Stoneforge Mystic, Knight of the Reliquary activations (hey nice land you sacrificed there), Pridemage activations, Oblivion Ring.
Most decks have more than one thing you can hit for value. Some, like that MUD deck with Kuldotha Forgemaster, have activated triggers of blowout proportions. Others just give you card-for-card value while usually costing much less resources, and the card seriously messes with opponent's minds, even good ones.
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
2 Terravore
Non-creature spells
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Go for the Throat
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
3 Stifle
2 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
4 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
I'm still testing between Tombstalker and Dark Confidant. The list is sort of a mix between Gerry Thompson's list and Edgar Flores from the most recent SCG opens. I would test more and figure out some of my own choices but I only got the deck two days ago so I figure I'd just take pro lists and tweak them.
I predict a pretty aggro heavy meta with a splash of combo, since that is what we had the last time we had a big legacy tournament. Lots of Goblins, Fish, Zoo, Affinity, and then some storm. Is there any advice anyone can give in playing these match ups? I am a pretty strong magic player but I don't know much about Legacy in general. Also, would you go for Confidants or Tombstalkers?
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
Team America is a poor deck to run in an aggro field though. You may not want to run the deck unless you had no other choice.
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Tombstalker
2x Vendilion Clique
Noncreature Spells (30)
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
3x Stifle
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
2x Go for the Throat
2x Snuff Out
3x Hymn to Tourach
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Wasteland
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Misty Rainforest
2x Polluted Delta
4x Underground Sea
2x Bayou
2x Tropical Island
2x Spell Pierce
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Ghastly Demise
3x Pithing Needle
2x Pernicious Deed
2x Krosan Grip
2x Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Round 1 - Win vs Bant (Caleb Durward's non natural order list)
Round 2 - Win vs Charbelcher
Round 3 - Tie vs High Tide
Round 4 - Win vs Dave Gearhart's Tezz/Thopter deck
Round 5 - ID into Top 8
Top 8
Round 1 - Win vs High Tide
Round 2 - Loss to Painter/Grindstone on the Emrakul board package.
Had some notes and questions
- I really wanted to play a few more threats, so I added the 2 Cliques. After playing with them, I'm taking them back out as they just weren't relevant enough. I need to be using a faster clock, and they just don't cut it.
- I'm seriously considering moving Jace to the board, especially for providence where I expect to see a lot of High Tide, a deck he is useless against.
- With those cuts, I expect to make room for a fourth Hymn to Tourach and a Predict or two. Probably going to add 2 Predict 1 Hymn and 1 Sylvan Library.
Questions
- I still have not played against Merfolk with this list. How vital is Llawan? She's so useless against the rest of the field and I haven't seen much merfolk out there, so I'm considering cutting her from the board
- Dan Signorini's list from DC had 2 Dispel in the board, which seems like a great card to bring in vs High Tide. Spell Pierce was good for me in that matchup in the round I won, and Dispel would've been even better. What else is it good against?
- I'm seriously considering only running 3 Daze. Is this a silly idea? I'm used to Daze in merfolk where you can counter something early and still have a board presence. My experience here has been when I daze something early, I'm way behind and have to fight to keep up, and late Daze isn't any good.
- Any thoughts on Smother over Go for the Throat? It kills Painter, Metalworker, and Ravager, while really only striking out against Tombstalker or Abyssal Persecutor, so I'm pretty dead to monoblack if I cut GffT but I think I'm better against a broader variety of decks.
Thanks for any suggestions!
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
i too think the cliques don't do enough and i plan on cutting them with the addition of mental misstep from new phyrexia.
basically cuts will go -2 clique, -1 daze, -1 predict, +3 misstep, + 1 tombstalker. i am also liking the idea of kira, but w/ stp protection via misstep it might be over kill. i have a hard time cutting the libraries as they always seem good and the matchups the are not good against usually involve quasali pridemage so it makes it an easy cut game 2.
i have found pulse to be excellent out of the board. i am also running a pair of terravores in the board for extra threat density that also trumps KotR in p/t. i am currently running 1 llawan in the board and if i can make it out to providence will run 2. this deck just looses to merfolk and with all the recent success in the stg opens as well as combos dominance i think the meta will be very heavy team america. with this in mind people will gun for it thus i expect there to be a lot of merfolk too.
Standard
UB Tezzeret Control
Legacy
UBG Team America
UBR The Epic Storm
UB Stax
UW Thopter Top
UG Hogworts
4 Tarmogoyfs
4 Tombstalker
1 Terravore
1 Kira, the Great Glass Spinner
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Stifle
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Smother
1 Go for the Throat
4 Wasteland
4 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
4 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
Kira: the best addition to the deck in a long time.
Terravore: big ol trampler. big body is good.
And regarding the 3 daze... 3 Daze has been better than 4 Daze in this deck for me for a long time.
What of the land count? I run 22, but I have considered going down to 21... thoughts on this?
And I am experimenting with Misstep and a super secret tech. Since it could be embarrassing if it doesn't play out well, I'll wait to announce what it is until I know if it's good.