The bastard child of Sneak and Show and Dragon Stompy, Big Red combines the massive disrupting powers of Chalice of the Void and Blood Moon with the legacies baddest fatties. Both being able to sneak in a monster or hard-cast titans, Big Red gives a versatile way to bring in the beats.
Card selection
The Disruption
Chalice of the Void – Legacy being the low-curve format that it is, landing a Chalice at 1 can lock out the majority of spells from many decks. Shutting out Brainstorm, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, etc. on turn 1 can turn an opponent’s very keepable opener into a struggle to stay alive.
Blood Moon – Another blowout card, able to put excessive strain on the 3+ color decks’ manabases. With many decks running very few basics, an early moon can hard lock decks out of the game.
The Beef
Griselbrand – Swinging in for 7 is fine by itself, but his draw ability turns an active Sneak Attack into a win.
Worldspine Wurm – A massive body that leaves behind its own army.
Inferno Titan – A threat that can easily be cast. While its power isn’t quite on par with Primeval Titan in Bloom Titan, crushing weenies when he lands and each time he attacks keeps opponents at risk.
Wurmcoil Engine – Another threat that can be easily cast. Leaves some staying power off Sneak
Godo, Bandit Warlord/Batterskull – Endearingly called "the good stoneforge mystic, Godo resolving presents 7 power in conjunction with a searched up Batterskull. The attack trigger also allows your vigilant creatures to get another swing in. Ultimately, these two function similarly to Wurmcoil, where you’re left with a body behind after being sneaked into play.
City of Traitors, Ancient Tomb – Fast mana that can push out a turn 1 chalice, or, with a little help, a turn 1 moon.
Sandstone Needle – Slightly slower “fast mana” that opens up the turn 2 plays. It doesn’t give you the turn 1 chalice and opens you up to wasteland disruption, but
Seething Song - Somewhere between the Sol Lands and Petal/SSG, boosting ahead 2 mana makes the difference between sneaking in a guy turn 1 versus turn 2, dropping a Titan/Engine on turn 2 vs turn 3 or 4, etc.
Less Common Choices
Mox Diamond – Opens up more early plays, and especially opens more lines with Griselbrand and Sneak Attack.
Chandra, Flamecaller – A Swiss Army Knife. Poses a clock on her own, is able to wipe most of legacy’s threats, and the option to draw cards is something that the deck otherwise lacks.
Pyromancy – For the metagame where creatures just aren’t guaranteed to hit, able to turn each draw into direct damage can make the difference. Comparing it to Sneak is slightly disingenuous as the creatures that can be put in are generally more effective than a simple smash, but the ability to turn extra moons, monkeys, etc. into bolts is sometimes necessary. Often saved for the board.
Sideboarding:
Sideboard Options
Defense Grid – For those matchups where your opponent is just making things difficult for you to resolve.
Trinisphere – For storm, Omni, or any time where they’ve got a lower land count or Moon just isn’t cutting it. Trinisphere makes Force of Will a bad Cancel, and turns Dark Ritual into nothing but Storm+1.
Ashen Rider – Perfectly fine for the occasion where your opponent dares to Show and Tell, or just has problem permanents like Bridge that need to be answered.
Faerie Macabre – Grave hate the hits at instant speed without needing to be cast. Works well for things like Reanimator, doesn’t work as well for things like Dredge.
Tormod’s Crypt – Although effectively announcing that you’ve got a bomb, Crypt does offer a means of shutting down/stalling against grave-based decks.
Shattering Spree/Shatterstorm – Shattering Spree can drop multiple copies to get around things like countermagic, chalice (the original would be countered), but is limited to the number of red sources you have. Shatterstorm on the other hand, blows up everything indiscriminately.
Pyroclasm/Rending Volley/Sudden Shock – There’s been a lot of discussion on the means to answer problem cards like Containment Priest, Gaddock Teeg, and Phyrexian Revoker. The traditional go-to was Pyroclasm, which is able to take out multiple threats, though it itself can be countered/responded to. Rending Volley being a single-target removal spell that can’t be countered (and can be resolved through chalice at 1), but can’t take out Revoker. Sudden Shock is very difficult to counter (though a properly stacked Counterbalance does allow for an answer even though they can’t top in response), and can’t be responded to by Karakas or Mother of Runes, but any previously pumped bear is likely out of reach for Shock.
Sulfur Elemental – Whether taking out Thalia and Mom, or wiping out Monk tokens, Elemental offers a difficult-to-answer way to take out the small white guys.
Ingot Chewer – A 1-drop artifact removal that doubles as a body. Not too much else to say about it.
Stronghold Gambit – For those matchups with minimal/huge creatures like Storm or Reanimator, being able drop a lock piece and a standing threat can make for a rough time for them. Be mindful of the threats your opponent runs when you cast this, and hope that they don’t have the Grave Titan.
Goblin Rabblemaster – 2R is easy enough to cast on the early turns, and Rabblemaster alone can pose a fast enough clock to make a deck like miracles have to use their sweeper to continue.
Planning on Sleeving up some Godo Build for Thursday. Plan on doing a little better than I have been lately. Some very winnable MU's have been backfiring on me lately so I switched to moggcatcher to try and break up the monotony.
Any matchups in particular, or just in general? Jeff did have a nice writeup from the event here where he does give a bit of a description of sideboarding for a few different matchups. When I'm more sober I'll update the OP with the added information.
Played Jeff's 75 last night at my weekly Thursday Legacy. Didn't do well but! I had some rust after not playing for several weeks. Few updates I made.
-2 shattering spree
+2 Ingot Chewer
-1 Pyroclasm
+1 Kozilek's return
Reasoning behind the switch: Spree is less useful now that MUD isn't really a thing anymore, if it starts showing back up again, i certainly have no problem sleeving it up. Kozilek's return is getting a try over pyroclasm entirely because there's been an uptick in the number of D&T decks since the release of EMA. Being able to board wipe through mom seems alright in my book.
I played 4x rounds, and I have to say that out of my small sample size, ingot chewer appears to be the real deal. I did not evoke him at all, and paid full retail. He stopped many many a bob and stopped just as many revokers and vials. I never saw K return all night.
We have our latest tool in the form of a 6/6 construct. Draws us cards and is a threat that needs to be dealt with. I cannot wait to try Combustible Gearhulk in this deck.
Hey, I've been running Big Red in a few legacy leagues since it's had a bit of a resurgance recently. Haven't gotten the 5-0 yet as I either run into a faster combo deck or just don't draw well, but I have gotten a few 4-1's and the deck is strong for sure. I tweaked the lists I was seeing in mtg goldfish along with Hoogland's writeup because I kept losing to storm and reanimator.
-worldspine wurm is absolutely the best thing you can be cheating into play. I moved them up to 4 and can't imagine playing any less.
-Emrakul, the aeons torn is just not that good on turn 1 or 2 as it doesn't actually kill, but it is absolutely required to come back from slow starts. 2 seems optimal, 4 definitely too many
-Griselbrand is bonker as always, I only run 2, but it should probably be 3 or 4
-inferno titan is a beast at stabilizing a board and can be played without a sneak/breach to be an actual clock. combustible gearhulk is just straight garbage and titan would be better in just about every situation.
-Chandra, torch of defiance is a great card against grindy matchups and since I started playing her in some other mono red lists, I decided I never wanted to run less than 4 maindeck in these kinds of decks. She is so versatile as card advantage, reach, ramp, removal and win condition. It has to be wrong to play anything less than 4 of her. SHE DOES EVERYTHING YOU WANT OMG I LOVE CHANDRA.
-4 wurm, 4 chandra, 4 titan gives you so much reach and let you topdeck your way to a win.
-it is important to have playable cards that do not require breach or sneak. Chandra and titan fill that very vital role.
-Deck is strong against everything except force of will and things that are faster, either spells (storm, reanimator, belcher) or creatures (elves).
-Trinisphere has always underwhelmed me. It takes a lot of resources and then nonbos with chalice against the decks you want to play it. Personally I don't like it, but I can see the allure since it is a very strong card.
-I can't see myself ever playing sandstone needle because I really want all my lands to come into play untapped, but I could definitely see 1 over a mountain or the gemstone caverns (which is gas btw, and pretty much a freeroll)
-It is important to dodge wasteland by playing basic mountain on turn 1 if you are planning to go off the next turn
-I think phyrexian revoker is the card you want over trinisphere, but again, i don't like trinisphere. It hits the same matchups, though, and is just a fantastic 2 drop. Against fast decks, being able to play something on turn 1 is super important. I'm testing revoker out against the reanimator strategies, but it's possible I shave to include surgical extraction
UPDATE: Long story short, the deck keeps winning. It's deceptively powerful, but definitely has some small consistency problems sometimes. I personally run low on mana, but would not have a clue what to cut because everything is so good. I've changed up my sideboard a bit:
The answer to attrition decks isn't protection like defense grid and ricochet trap, rather it is playing more threats.
macabre is just kinda there because you need it against some decks and i felt naked without it
shock is good against delver and mentor out of miracles
pyromancy is also good and goes along with the "more threats" theme
sin prodder is really the interesting addition, which plays really nice if you have sneak, breach or pyromancy already because if you flip a fatty, they are hurting either way.
I'm actually looking into a variant of this focused on Gishath and cheating some of the more stickable dinos (Garbage Tyrant, Zetalpa) with Etali as backup for Gishath's trigger/disruption towards the opponent's strategy. It'll be a while before I have the deck built, as I'm starting from scratch, but I'll try to post something here if I can if and when I decide to take the time to test it out.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
So I took Jurassic Park (Sneak & Breach with dinos) to a tournament and it performed poorly, but I think most of that was due to bad draws (there was maybe one misplay that I saw on my end that could have seen a different outcome for that game). I either kept drawing Sneaks & Breaches and no targets for them, or a bunch of Sneak & Breach targets and no Sneak or Breach. That said, any time I landed a Gishath, I won the game, so...I think the deck is viable, it just isn't necessarily as good as actual Sneak & Breach.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I've been playing Sneak & Breach proper for a few months, now. I've been massively testing my flex slots to see if there's anything new or interesting that can be found, and I've seen results here and there. Here's what I'm using at the moment:
Fairly generic, I know, but what can you do? What's good is good.
Cards I've tested:
Ulamog the Ceaseless Hunger - Ulamog's actually really good in the Wurmcoil Engine slot. Exile mill 20 can be a big gamechanger and if you hardcast him - which isn't too much of a stretch in a big mana deck like this one - he really cleans up nicely. The biggest issue is that 10/10 indestructible exile 20 on attack isn't all that impactful if you're only Sneaking him in, which is what the deck wants to be doing more often than not.
Sundering Titan - Sundering Titan is probably good in a deck - it's just not good in this deck. I ended up blowing up more of my Mountains than any lands my opponents had, because I couldn't seem to get Blood Moon and Titan out together.
Bearer of the Heavens - I couldn't really find anything that this guy could do better than Emrakul other than get around Karakas, and often, that simply didn't do enough.
Karakas - Yeah, okay, laugh it up - but when all you have is a Sneak Attack and an Emrakul and it's still T2 or 3, you want to recycle that Emrakul for re-using if you can. This just ended up not being worth the loss of speed and usually ends up becoming a Mountain, anyway.
Chrome Mox - Decent if you have extra Sneaks, Breaches, or Moons in your hand, but whenever I had a Chrome Mox, I wanted a Sandstone Needle more. This card also causes problems when you have creatures in your hand that you want to be sneaking in, but nothing to imprint for R, and you really can't do a whole lot with that Mox if you have to imprint a Griselbrand or Worldspine Wurm on it. Also doesn't really help when you're holding a hand full of lands and artifacts, which can happen pretty regularly - and if your only prison piece is Blood Moon early on, of course you want to be casting that as soon as possible, most likely.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Great card - but if I can cast her, I want to be casting Sneak Attack, instead.
Combustible Gearhulk - Your opponents will usually let you draw 3 off of it, in my experience - though I did kill someone by milling an Emrakul and Worldspine Wurm together. That said, you want your 6-drops to have a very high impact on the game state and Inferno Titan does this so much better than Gearhulk does.
Etali, Primal Storm - Actually a pretty decent card, but too much of a chance to get a flop and no value off of the attack trigger if you're just Sneaking it in. Again, Inferno Titan has a much higher impact more often than Etali can. Also, Etali is also susceptible to Karakas. That said, the most gratifying play I got off of Etali was stealing my Lands opponent's Gamble, tutoring for Blood Moon, and slamming it for their scoop.
Woodfall Primus - Good card in theory, but when I needed it, I never drew it, and when I drew it, I either didn't need it or couldn't use it. Persist makes this a great Sneak target, but it would be silly to run more than 1, and at that point, it doesn't feel worth it.
Pyroclasm - I haven't run into any situations where Pyroclasm has been more useful than Abrade, except maybe against Elves? But even then, I usually just don't care about what Elves is doing since at that point, it's a race to see who goes off first, and Chalice normally handles their smaller drops.
Meteor Golem - Will be testing this next week; stay tuned!
Oblivion Sower - Will be testing this later in the month; stay tuned!
Sin Prodder - Will be testing this later in the month; stay tuned!
Undying Flames - This card is flat-out amazing. I regularly side out my Breaches for this. Even if you fizzle on the Epic trigger and snag a 3-drop, it can still wipe your opponent's creatures from the board over a few turns, which is invaluable while you're waiting for the 6-15 drops to hit your opponent directly. If it gets countered, you don't have to deal with the Epic trigger, and you can keep plodding away. If you have a Sneak Attack already out, you can still cheat out your creatures with no problem.
Trinisphere - I typically side out Chalice and side in 3sphere when I'm on the draw, as Chalice seems to be a lot worse reactively. If your opponent sticks an early Delver, it can be difficult to come back from that, especially if your opponent has sufficient countermagic to trip you up. That said, it's a pretty important piece of the prison puzzle, and is good at helping you force through your win conditions.
Abrade - Abrade is amazing. It deals with Sphere of Resistance, which causes a lot of pain in high-curve decks like Sneak & Breach, as well as says "no" to stuff like Containment Priest, Phyrexian Revoker, Sorcerous Spyglass, Pithing Needle, and pretty much anything else that can disrupt your deck's ability to do...well, anything! Most Legacy threats die to a Bolt or a Shatter, so given the versatility that this card offers, it's a must-have at at least 3.
Blood Sun - For when you can't screw Lands players, enough. Blood Sun is really useful for nerfing your opponents' nonbasics - which can help you push through against Rishadan Port, Maze of Ith, Glacial Chasm, and Wasteland, all of which can be extremely backbreaking for a deck like ours. The fact that it cantrips when it enters the battlefield is just icing on the cake.
Surgical Extraction/Leyline of the Void - The use of both of these is situational at best; if you have a meta that sees a resurgence of graveyard shenanigans after the Deathrite Shaman ban, these are both strong considerations. Extraction also helps against combo decks like Storm.
Dismember - At this point, I prefer Abrade, but sometimes, you just need to punch out a Gurmag Angler.
Pyroblast - Will be testing this later in the month - stay tuned!
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I'm still actively testing, so any of this data isn't necessarily conclusive for "this is absolutely the best S&B build ever", but I do hope my analyses have been helpful and informative for anyone either considering the deck or for the longer-term players of this deck that have been curious or contemplative about alternatives and could not test for whatever reason. Will post more probably in a month or so after I get some more testing in.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I played in a 2k this past weekend and ran my above list, but with 2 more Mountain and 2 less Sandstone Needle. I made some play errors that got the judge called on me and that ultimately cost me the last round; I placed 2nd.
Pithing Needle was for D&T and combo decks, Extraction was for Storm and graveyard decks, Pyroblast was for blue decks, Pyroclasm was for any deck that runs small creatures, Abrade was for any prison pieces or individual creatures that I needed to get rid of, and Undying Flames was for getting around enchantment lockdowns such as Humility and Overwhelming Splendor (both of which I faced in the tourney, and won against).
There was a surprising lack of blue decks in the tournament - no Delver, no Grixis control, no Stoneblade, no Miracles. If they were there, I didn't see them in my match-ups.
I played against:
Enchantress (2-0)
Death & Taxes (2-0)
Punishing Maverick (2-0)
Aggro Loam (2-0)
Rector Nic Fit (2-1)
Lands (2-0)
Rector Nic Fit again (2-0)
Storm (1-2)
I also played against one of the judges, who was on High Tide, in between rounds and won our game.
This deck is favored in most non-blue match-ups, and I've been really eager to test my Pyroblasts out. Trinisphere just doesn't feel like it carries its weight; blasphemous, I know. I usually play Trinisphere and it gets countered. Good for sucking up an early counter, but not great for you when your opponent has more answers than you have threats. Pyroblast seems a little better, because your opponent ideally doesn't know you're holding it to force through that Sneak Attack.
That said, I dropped the number of Sandstone Needles down to 2 and increased Mountains up by 2 for a few reasons:
Wasteland. Your T1 and T2 Needles getting Wasted immediately feels REALLY bad, and puts you in the hurting zone for red sources. This deck can not function without red sources, and sometimes, your SSGs + Petals just aren't enough in that regard. Recurring red mana is infinitely better for the long game than 1-shots. You want to have Petals and SSGs for putting out your prison pieces T1, getting that Seething Song T1 cast into Sneak or Breach, or when you have Sneak + Griselbrand out and you draw more fatties for the quick kill. Sometimes, you get the lone Sneak trigger you needed off of a topped Petal or SSG, and sometimes, you just have to go ape (pardon the pun) on your opponent with a 2/2. Neither of these situations are really ideal, but they can happen. Anyway, this is getting tangential. The point is that having land = good, and not having land = bad.
Sandstone Needle is also great for powering out that T2 Sneak with a sol land as your second drop, assuming you don't get Wastelanded. However, when you draw them in multiples, it hurts your chances of having recurring red sources for later when you want to Sneak things in, or when your initial Sneak gets countered. Also, it feels bad to use Needle, your only red source, to Sneak in the one creature in your hand.
Finally, only running 2 Needle means you're less tempted to keep a greedy hand. I know about succumbing to greedy hands, and it can be very punishing if you're prone to play mistakes. I once tried to cast Seething Song when my opponent had two Sphere of Resistance out, and decided I needed to not keep Seething Song in against decks that might be running or siding in tax pieces so I wouldn't do mana math wrong again, for example.
General notes:
Blood Moon is my most frequently sided-out card. Why, you ask? 90% of your opponents will try to play around Blood Moon the second they know you're in red and playing prison pieces. I play in a meta where basics are abundant and manabases are not too greedy. Sure, you can flop down your City and a Petal T1 to drop the Moon in G2, but odds are, they'll either be keeping a hand with basics, or you'll be on the draw (you're playing Sneak & Breach; of course you won G1), meaning they can fetch the one basic their deck needs to function. And that's assuming you have the resources to Moon on T1 rather than waiting 'til T2, when you might as well not even play it.
Somewhat relatedly, I've been considering the merits of Blood Sun over Blood Moon. There are pros and cons to each in the deck:
Blood Moon: Your Cities and Needles don't die, and your Tomb doesn't damage you any further. If your opponent isn't able to play around it, they'll struggle to cast spells, and it can win you a game, potentially. A big downside is that it's easy to play around, and it does give your opponent mana. Even though it's red mana, that can lead to potential artifact destruction, which can break your Chalices or worse. You lose the speed of your sol lands, and it's also totally useless against basically any red deck.
Blood Sun: Your Cities don't die. EtB draw a card can be extremely helpful when this is a dead draw and you have a bit of mana to spare. This card completely shuts off your opponents' fetches, and punishes them hard for keeping a greedy land hand. I've had multiple games where I played this and my opponent needed the extra mana that Blood Moon would have given them to win the game. The downside is that it doesn't stop nonbasics from generating mana normally, but given the abundance of basics in my meta, I am considering maindecking these in lieu of Moon for a while and seeing how they play out. Blood Sun also doesn't allow you to use your Needles, as they can't produce mana without depletion counters.
Now, let's look at my previously mentioned cards that I stated I'd be testing:
Meteor Golem - A 3/3 for 7 mana that destroys a non-land on EtB is okay, but I found similar issues with Woodfall Primus that I did with this card. Decent in theory, poor in execution.
Oblivion Sower - I never found a situation where I wanted Oblivion Sower when I had it. Every time I drew it, I said to myself, "Wow, I wish I had Inferno Titan or Wurmcoil Engine." Its land-stealing was just never relevant enough for me to be wowed with it.
Additionally, I've tested: Reality Smasher - Reality Smasher is amazing. Some people will say it runs anathema to what the deck wants to be doing, but dependent on how heavily your meta sways towards stuff like D&T or Delver, Reality Smasher can be better than Inferno Titan. Forcing your opponent to go into card disadvantage to deal with your threat is extremely valuable, as is the fact that it's a 5-drop instead of a 6-drop. If you don't draw a sol land or you get Wastelanded, it's not the absolute worst Sneak target you can put in, as it can go toe-to-toe with Gurmag Angler and punch through a Batterskull like it's a Butterskull. That said, you usually want to hardcast this guy, which you'll usually have the mana for after dropping Sneak Attack. The haste and trample are just gravy.
Sin Prodder - I actually haven't gotten to test Sin Prodder, yet. I will possibly be looking into this when I come back to this deck. On that note...
I'm going to be testing Omnitell for the foreseeable future, but will invariably come back to this deck prooobably pretty regularly and let you guys know more testing results. If you come up with any interesting creatures or fatties you want tested in Sneak & Breach, let me know. I'll assess whether or not it's worth it, and whether or not I'm willing to try it out to provide you with more data.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
Omnitell was a bust for me, so I'm back to Sneak & Breach while I work on building Reanimator.
Lately, I feel like the deck has been underperforming for me. I'm swapping out my sideboard Pyroclasms for Kozilek's Returns to see if that bumps up my win rate against D&T after siding, as Mother of Runes can cause problems for early board control when trying to land a Sneak Attack with Phyrexian Revoker, Containment Priest, and/or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben out. Undying Flames is still amazing in just about any match-up that's prepared to shut down your Sneak Attack/other options for cheating creatures in, or preventing you from attacking, like Humility or Ensnaring Bridge. Seriously, nobody expects it, and everyone always goes, "Huh?" when I cast it.
Another swap I've been eyeing is Pyroblast. When you're going off, it's extremely difficult to have an extra mana with which to keep your Pyroblast open for smashing that Force of Will or Daze, especially in the early turns. Trinisphere is the obvious choice, but I think I like the idea of Defense Grid a little bit better, as it's just as likely as Trinisphere to eat an early counterspell, but it doesn't shut off your Petals/Chalices in their usefulness and speed. Defense Grid also has the added benefit of being castable off of a single sol land. I'm currently testing 2 Defense Grid/1 Pyroblast in the sideboard since Pyroblast can still be handy to remove pesky Jaces/Cliques, which can shut you out from going off, but ultimately, I'm leaning away from that, as 9 times out of 10 you would rather try to force your opponents' counterspells on things that prevent them from being able to stop you with more counterspells sooner in the game than let it get to the point of where you might actually need a Pyroblast. If you're not winning early on, you probably didn't keep the best hand. I'll likely to 0 Pyroblast/3 Defense Grid at some point for testing purposes and see how that shakes out. I recognize that sometimes, the deck loses to itself, by merit of not having red sources or just by bad beats. It happens with all decks. But even if it feels bad, mulling aggressively can sometimes be the difference between victory and defeat, especially with a combo deck.
One other thing I'm considering trying out is completely removing Sandstone Needle for 2 more Mountains. While the explosive start is amazing against decks that don't run Wasteland, Wasteland is a card that's become extremely prevalent in my meta, and my starts suffer for it. Odds are, when you draw a land mid-game, as well, you also don't want it to be Sandstone Needle. For some reason, I've been having a colossal difficulty drawing red sources, which has been screwing me out of wins I should otherwise be getting.
I'll make the aforementioned changes and report back. Unfortunately, in February, I likely won't be able to play any Legacy, but I'll report back with my findings once I feel I've gotten sufficient testing.
Also, I got to hardcast Emrakul against Miracles in a recent 2k, so that was fun.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
Lately, I've felt like I need a 3rd Sneak effect/a 5-drop creature with comparably big impact to Inferno Titan to replace that slot, and this fits exactly that criteria. Our Sneak & Breach overlords at WotC have heard my prayers.
I'm going to be testing this as a 4-of, and I'll also be testing out the new Neheb to see how he works for the deck (though I imagine he's not the best-suited for the job, but how can I turn down at least trying out a 5/4 Trampler for 4 with looting and mana production as part of what the deck already wants to be doing?).
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
Okay, so, I ordered my Ilhargs and I'm waiting for them to arrive. I don't foresee me being able to test Neheb for at least a few months while I tweak my build for Ilharg. I think Ilharg brings a whole new shake-up on a fundamental level to the deck, though, because it means Breach is no longer a mandatory 4-of. This allows for more flexibility in the build, as I feel Ilharg should be taking the Inferno Titan slot, which means we can possibly see an increase of the number of Worldspines/Emrakuls/Wurmcoils/Seething Songs we can run in the base list, which is exciting to me. The only reservation I have about it is that more Legends makes the deck more vulnerable to Karakas, but ideally, you'll either have out Blood Moon, or your increased number of Wurms will pay off overall, on average.
I'll post results as I have them, of course, but in the meantime, I have mixed feelings on the London mulligan for the deck. On one hand, it potentially incentivizes keeping greedy hands, as going all-in on the T1 kill can be crippling when your opponent has that FoW they kept because they knew you'd be trying to go off early. On the other hand, it feels like this dramatically increases the chances of the deck being able to win against decks that don't run FoW, so...it's a toss-up, for me, but I'm leaning towards it overall being a buff to the deck.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I decided to go 3 Ilharg/3 Breach/3 Worldspine/2 Emrakul/2 Wurmcoil. I haven't been playing Sandstone Needles recently due to the prevalence of Wasteland decks in my meta, but I've been seeing less of them, recently, so maybe I'll go back up to 2. I've come to accept that most decks don't have a set, definitive list, and that they're breathing entities that flow with your meta. With this in mind, I have a number of flex/sideboard cards for most of my decks, and will keep things updated to acclimate to my meta as best as I can. Bit of a tangent; sorry.
Anyway: 3 Ilharg/3 Breach opens up some flexibility in the type of Sneak effects I can run (4 Sneak Attack is always a must, though), and can vary in effectiveness dependent upon my access to red mana. Ilharg, in itself, is also an effective hardcast, taking the place of Inferno Titan (who also requires double red, but makes us less mana-intensive, overall). More Ilharg makes us more vulnerable to Karakas, so I upped the number of Worldspines and Wurmcoils to 3 and 2, respectively, as both cards are threats that need to be answered immediately in this format. Increasing the quantity of our other nonlegendary creatures also allows us some breathing room with the increased density of Sneak effects, as it gives us less chance of running into multiple Griselbrands/Emrakuls as our only options for Sneaking in multiple creatures in a turn, and gives us some solid gains off of hardcasting creature options. I'm finding Wurmcoil to be more essential for the longer games, where you Breach in a Griselbrand, draw 14, and completely whiff, as well as the fact that it eats Anglers and Batterskulls for breakfast, even outpacing the latter in terms of lifegain. Even the tokens Wurmcoil generates need to be dealt with reasonably quickly, and the lack of need for red mana for it means that even if you only have sol lands, you still have a board presence. I kept Emrakul at 2, because, while a 3rd is tempting, she often doesn't close out games if you get her, and only her, early on; we don't want too many Legends/dependencies on Sneak effects if we can help it for the aforementioned reasons; and she's the most cuttable Sneak fatty for us on multiple levels. Goldfishing with her at 3 felt like I saw her far too often when I wanted to be seeing more Wurms (of either variety), so that's why they won the numbers game on that level.
Anyway, without further ado, tournament report:
R1:
0-2 against Miracles.
G1, he had the opening hand FoW (of course) and I couldn't keep out or resolve anything after he landed a JTMS.
G2, I didn't draw any of the 9 cards I sided in against him, and the one Chalice I did manage to land, his Teferi noped away pretty hard. I got 5 dead draws in a row, and was just totally hosed.
R2:
Got the bye. No test data.
R3:
1-2 against Dack Fires.
G1, I got the kill so quickly I had no idea what he was on.
G2, I misplayed by Breaching in Ilharg instead of Griselbrand because I was excited to test the new card out and wasn't considering the possibility of an Edict. He dropped Liliana's Triumph and I lost my Ilharg, and he controlled the rest of the game with DackFires. I checked to see what I was going to draw with Griselbrand, compared it to what he had, and the game would have been mine if not for that mistake.
G3, he Thoughtseized my Sneaks and Breaches, and stole my Wurmcoil with Punishing Fires because I forgot he had a Dack emblem. Whoops.
R4:
1-2 against Stoneblade.
G1, I landed an Ilharg, and he kept using StP on my Ilharg, but I kept casting Ilharg after drawing him back, again, who then smashed through anything else he had. He could not outpace the lifegain he was giving me by Swordsing Ilharg, and I was able to get out a Griselbrand and draw 21 off of him because of it, which was more than enough to wrap up the game.
G2, I only drew lands and sideboard cards. Nothing to impact the gamestate with.
G3, I landed Sneak Attack, then went to use Sneak Attack on the next turn with 1 red mana open. He flashed in Containment Priest in response, and [i]I forgot I could respond to the cast to Sneak in Emrakul[i]. I was tired and haven't played the deck in a few months, so, mistakes were bound to happen.
All in all, the deck feels strong. I would have gone 3-1 if not for my misplays, which is pretty good in a blue-heavy meta, which is basically the bane of Sneak & Breach decks. I'm going to try 4 Breach and 2 Ilharg, and 2 Breach and 4 Ilharg, and see how those do. I still don't have Nehebs, yet, so it's indeterminate as to how effective he will be when the time comes or when I'll be able to test him. As it is, I can currently only play Legacy every other week or so due to my work schedule.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
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The bastard child of Sneak and Show and Dragon Stompy, Big Red combines the massive disrupting powers of Chalice of the Void and Blood Moon with the legacies baddest fatties. Both being able to sneak in a monster or hard-cast titans, Big Red gives a versatile way to bring in the beats.
Card selection
The Disruption
The Beef
The Mana
Less Common Choices
Sideboarding:
Sample decklists:
2 Mox Diamond
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
4 Seething Song
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Sneak Attack
4 Through the Breach
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Griselbrand
1 Worldspine
2 Emrakul the Aeons Torn
7 Mountain
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
3 Sandstone Needle
2 Rending Volley
2 Shattering Spree
3 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Pyroclasm
3 Faerie Macabre
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil
1 Worldspine Wurm
3 Griselbrand
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Inferno Titan
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
4 Seething Song
4 Lotus Petal
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Through the Breach
4 Sneak Attack
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Ashen Rider
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Sudden Shock
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Trinisphere
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Worldspine Wurm
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Godo, Bandit Warlord
3 Griselbrand
9 Mountain
4 City of Traitors
1 Crystal Vein
1 Sandstone Needle
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lotus Petal
4 Blood Moon
4 Sneak Attack
4 Seething Song
4 Through the Breach
3 Trinisphere
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Pyromancy
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
1 Boil
2 Sudden Shock
1 Pyroclasm
2 Shattering Spree
Matchups:
Shardless BUG - highly favorable
RUG Delver - Slightly favorable
Miracles - Slightly favorable on the play, slightly unfavorable on the draw.
Infect - Highly unfavorable
Death and Taxes - Unfavorable
Storm - slightly favorable
Grixis Delver - slightly favorable
A crash course on the deck can be found here
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
-2 shattering spree
+2 Ingot Chewer
-1 Pyroclasm
+1 Kozilek's return
Reasoning behind the switch: Spree is less useful now that MUD isn't really a thing anymore, if it starts showing back up again, i certainly have no problem sleeving it up. Kozilek's return is getting a try over pyroclasm entirely because there's been an uptick in the number of D&T decks since the release of EMA. Being able to board wipe through mom seems alright in my book.
I played 4x rounds, and I have to say that out of my small sample size, ingot chewer appears to be the real deal. I did not evoke him at all, and paid full retail. He stopped many many a bob and stopped just as many revokers and vials. I never saw K return all night.
4 inferno titan
2 griselbrand
2 emrakul, the aeons torn
4 chandra, torch of defiance
4 chalice of the void
4 blood moon
4 sneak attack
4 through the breach
4 lotus petal
4 seething song
4 ancient tomb
4 city of traitors
1 crystal vein
1 gemstone caverns
6 mountain
4 firespout
4 phyrexian revoker
2 ingot chewer
1 pyromancy
Some initial observations:
-worldspine wurm is absolutely the best thing you can be cheating into play. I moved them up to 4 and can't imagine playing any less.
-Emrakul, the aeons torn is just not that good on turn 1 or 2 as it doesn't actually kill, but it is absolutely required to come back from slow starts. 2 seems optimal, 4 definitely too many
-Griselbrand is bonker as always, I only run 2, but it should probably be 3 or 4
-inferno titan is a beast at stabilizing a board and can be played without a sneak/breach to be an actual clock. combustible gearhulk is just straight garbage and titan would be better in just about every situation.
-Chandra, torch of defiance is a great card against grindy matchups and since I started playing her in some other mono red lists, I decided I never wanted to run less than 4 maindeck in these kinds of decks. She is so versatile as card advantage, reach, ramp, removal and win condition. It has to be wrong to play anything less than 4 of her. SHE DOES EVERYTHING YOU WANT OMG I LOVE CHANDRA.
-4 wurm, 4 chandra, 4 titan gives you so much reach and let you topdeck your way to a win.
-it is important to have playable cards that do not require breach or sneak. Chandra and titan fill that very vital role.
-Deck is strong against everything except force of will and things that are faster, either spells (storm, reanimator, belcher) or creatures (elves).
-Trinisphere has always underwhelmed me. It takes a lot of resources and then nonbos with chalice against the decks you want to play it. Personally I don't like it, but I can see the allure since it is a very strong card.
-I can't see myself ever playing sandstone needle because I really want all my lands to come into play untapped, but I could definitely see 1 over a mountain or the gemstone caverns (which is gas btw, and pretty much a freeroll)
-It is important to dodge wasteland by playing basic mountain on turn 1 if you are planning to go off the next turn
-I think phyrexian revoker is the card you want over trinisphere, but again, i don't like trinisphere. It hits the same matchups, though, and is just a fantastic 2 drop. Against fast decks, being able to play something on turn 1 is super important. I'm testing revoker out against the reanimator strategies, but it's possible I shave to include surgical extraction
-ricochet trap is a bit of pet card, but it works well for what you need it to do especially with simian spirit guide.
-firespout is a great card, but it's possible it should be a 3/1 split with sudden shock. The reason it's so good, compared to kozilek's return (which is fantastic because of instant and it's colorless!) or pyroclasm is that it hits leovold, emissary of trest
UPDATE: Long story short, the deck keeps winning. It's deceptively powerful, but definitely has some small consistency problems sometimes. I personally run low on mana, but would not have a clue what to cut because everything is so good. I've changed up my sideboard a bit:
3 sin prodder
3 firespout
2 ingot chewer
2 pyromancy
1 sudden shock
1 faerie macabre
The answer to attrition decks isn't protection like defense grid and ricochet trap, rather it is playing more threats.
macabre is just kinda there because you need it against some decks and i felt naked without it
shock is good against delver and mentor out of miracles
pyromancy is also good and goes along with the "more threats" theme
sin prodder is really the interesting addition, which plays really nice if you have sneak, breach or pyromancy already because if you flip a fatty, they are hurting either way.
I am also VERY interested in crown-hunter hireling and throne of the high city when it becomes available online. They seem like really good cards against miracles...
I'm actually looking into a variant of this focused on Gishath and cheating some of the more stickable dinos (Garbage Tyrant, Zetalpa) with Etali as backup for Gishath's trigger/disruption towards the opponent's strategy. It'll be a while before I have the deck built, as I'm starting from scratch, but I'll try to post something here if I can if and when I decide to take the time to test it out.
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I've been playing Sneak & Breach proper for a few months, now. I've been massively testing my flex slots to see if there's anything new or interesting that can be found, and I've seen results here and there. Here's what I'm using at the moment:
2 Worldspine Wurm
4 Griselbrand
4 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Lotus Petal
3 Seething Song
4 Through the Breach
4 Blood Moon
4 Sneak Attack
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
8 Mountain
Fairly generic, I know, but what can you do? What's good is good.
Cards I've tested:
Ulamog the Ceaseless Hunger - Ulamog's actually really good in the Wurmcoil Engine slot. Exile mill 20 can be a big gamechanger and if you hardcast him - which isn't too much of a stretch in a big mana deck like this one - he really cleans up nicely. The biggest issue is that 10/10 indestructible exile 20 on attack isn't all that impactful if you're only Sneaking him in, which is what the deck wants to be doing more often than not.
Sundering Titan - Sundering Titan is probably good in a deck - it's just not good in this deck. I ended up blowing up more of my Mountains than any lands my opponents had, because I couldn't seem to get Blood Moon and Titan out together.
Bearer of the Heavens - I couldn't really find anything that this guy could do better than Emrakul other than get around Karakas, and often, that simply didn't do enough.
Karakas - Yeah, okay, laugh it up - but when all you have is a Sneak Attack and an Emrakul and it's still T2 or 3, you want to recycle that Emrakul for re-using if you can. This just ended up not being worth the loss of speed and usually ends up becoming a Mountain, anyway.
Chrome Mox - Decent if you have extra Sneaks, Breaches, or Moons in your hand, but whenever I had a Chrome Mox, I wanted a Sandstone Needle more. This card also causes problems when you have creatures in your hand that you want to be sneaking in, but nothing to imprint for R, and you really can't do a whole lot with that Mox if you have to imprint a Griselbrand or Worldspine Wurm on it. Also doesn't really help when you're holding a hand full of lands and artifacts, which can happen pretty regularly - and if your only prison piece is Blood Moon early on, of course you want to be casting that as soon as possible, most likely.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Great card - but if I can cast her, I want to be casting Sneak Attack, instead.
Combustible Gearhulk - Your opponents will usually let you draw 3 off of it, in my experience - though I did kill someone by milling an Emrakul and Worldspine Wurm together. That said, you want your 6-drops to have a very high impact on the game state and Inferno Titan does this so much better than Gearhulk does.
Etali, Primal Storm - Actually a pretty decent card, but too much of a chance to get a flop and no value off of the attack trigger if you're just Sneaking it in. Again, Inferno Titan has a much higher impact more often than Etali can. Also, Etali is also susceptible to Karakas. That said, the most gratifying play I got off of Etali was stealing my Lands opponent's Gamble, tutoring for Blood Moon, and slamming it for their scoop.
Woodfall Primus - Good card in theory, but when I needed it, I never drew it, and when I drew it, I either didn't need it or couldn't use it. Persist makes this a great Sneak target, but it would be silly to run more than 1, and at that point, it doesn't feel worth it.
Burning Sun's Avatar - An almost strictly worse Inferno Titan.
Pyroclasm - I haven't run into any situations where Pyroclasm has been more useful than Abrade, except maybe against Elves? But even then, I usually just don't care about what Elves is doing since at that point, it's a race to see who goes off first, and Chalice normally handles their smaller drops.
Meteor Golem - Will be testing this next week; stay tuned!
Oblivion Sower - Will be testing this later in the month; stay tuned!
Sin Prodder - Will be testing this later in the month; stay tuned!
Scuttling Doom Engine - Will be testing this next month; stay tuned!
-
Now, let's move on to sideboard cards.
Undying Flames - This card is flat-out amazing. I regularly side out my Breaches for this. Even if you fizzle on the Epic trigger and snag a 3-drop, it can still wipe your opponent's creatures from the board over a few turns, which is invaluable while you're waiting for the 6-15 drops to hit your opponent directly. If it gets countered, you don't have to deal with the Epic trigger, and you can keep plodding away. If you have a Sneak Attack already out, you can still cheat out your creatures with no problem.
Trinisphere - I typically side out Chalice and side in 3sphere when I'm on the draw, as Chalice seems to be a lot worse reactively. If your opponent sticks an early Delver, it can be difficult to come back from that, especially if your opponent has sufficient countermagic to trip you up. That said, it's a pretty important piece of the prison puzzle, and is good at helping you force through your win conditions.
Abrade - Abrade is amazing. It deals with Sphere of Resistance, which causes a lot of pain in high-curve decks like Sneak & Breach, as well as says "no" to stuff like Containment Priest, Phyrexian Revoker, Sorcerous Spyglass, Pithing Needle, and pretty much anything else that can disrupt your deck's ability to do...well, anything! Most Legacy threats die to a Bolt or a Shatter, so given the versatility that this card offers, it's a must-have at at least 3.
Blood Sun - For when you can't screw Lands players, enough. Blood Sun is really useful for nerfing your opponents' nonbasics - which can help you push through against Rishadan Port, Maze of Ith, Glacial Chasm, and Wasteland, all of which can be extremely backbreaking for a deck like ours. The fact that it cantrips when it enters the battlefield is just icing on the cake.
Surgical Extraction/Leyline of the Void - The use of both of these is situational at best; if you have a meta that sees a resurgence of graveyard shenanigans after the Deathrite Shaman ban, these are both strong considerations. Extraction also helps against combo decks like Storm.
Dismember - At this point, I prefer Abrade, but sometimes, you just need to punch out a Gurmag Angler.
Pyroblast - Will be testing this later in the month - stay tuned!
-
I'm still actively testing, so any of this data isn't necessarily conclusive for "this is absolutely the best S&B build ever", but I do hope my analyses have been helpful and informative for anyone either considering the deck or for the longer-term players of this deck that have been curious or contemplative about alternatives and could not test for whatever reason. Will post more probably in a month or so after I get some more testing in.
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I played in a 2k this past weekend and ran my above list, but with 2 more Mountain and 2 less Sandstone Needle. I made some play errors that got the judge called on me and that ultimately cost me the last round; I placed 2nd.
My sideboard was:
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Pyroblast
2 Pyroclasm
4 Abrade
2 Undying Flames
Pithing Needle was for D&T and combo decks, Extraction was for Storm and graveyard decks, Pyroblast was for blue decks, Pyroclasm was for any deck that runs small creatures, Abrade was for any prison pieces or individual creatures that I needed to get rid of, and Undying Flames was for getting around enchantment lockdowns such as Humility and Overwhelming Splendor (both of which I faced in the tourney, and won against).
There was a surprising lack of blue decks in the tournament - no Delver, no Grixis control, no Stoneblade, no Miracles. If they were there, I didn't see them in my match-ups.
I played against:
Enchantress (2-0)
Death & Taxes (2-0)
Punishing Maverick (2-0)
Aggro Loam (2-0)
Rector Nic Fit (2-1)
Lands (2-0)
Rector Nic Fit again (2-0)
Storm (1-2)
I also played against one of the judges, who was on High Tide, in between rounds and won our game.
This deck is favored in most non-blue match-ups, and I've been really eager to test my Pyroblasts out. Trinisphere just doesn't feel like it carries its weight; blasphemous, I know. I usually play Trinisphere and it gets countered. Good for sucking up an early counter, but not great for you when your opponent has more answers than you have threats. Pyroblast seems a little better, because your opponent ideally doesn't know you're holding it to force through that Sneak Attack.
That said, I dropped the number of Sandstone Needles down to 2 and increased Mountains up by 2 for a few reasons:
Wasteland. Your T1 and T2 Needles getting Wasted immediately feels REALLY bad, and puts you in the hurting zone for red sources. This deck can not function without red sources, and sometimes, your SSGs + Petals just aren't enough in that regard. Recurring red mana is infinitely better for the long game than 1-shots. You want to have Petals and SSGs for putting out your prison pieces T1, getting that Seething Song T1 cast into Sneak or Breach, or when you have Sneak + Griselbrand out and you draw more fatties for the quick kill. Sometimes, you get the lone Sneak trigger you needed off of a topped Petal or SSG, and sometimes, you just have to go ape (pardon the pun) on your opponent with a 2/2. Neither of these situations are really ideal, but they can happen. Anyway, this is getting tangential. The point is that having land = good, and not having land = bad.
Sandstone Needle is also great for powering out that T2 Sneak with a sol land as your second drop, assuming you don't get Wastelanded. However, when you draw them in multiples, it hurts your chances of having recurring red sources for later when you want to Sneak things in, or when your initial Sneak gets countered. Also, it feels bad to use Needle, your only red source, to Sneak in the one creature in your hand.
Finally, only running 2 Needle means you're less tempted to keep a greedy hand. I know about succumbing to greedy hands, and it can be very punishing if you're prone to play mistakes. I once tried to cast Seething Song when my opponent had two Sphere of Resistance out, and decided I needed to not keep Seething Song in against decks that might be running or siding in tax pieces so I wouldn't do mana math wrong again, for example.
General notes:
Blood Moon is my most frequently sided-out card. Why, you ask? 90% of your opponents will try to play around Blood Moon the second they know you're in red and playing prison pieces. I play in a meta where basics are abundant and manabases are not too greedy. Sure, you can flop down your City and a Petal T1 to drop the Moon in G2, but odds are, they'll either be keeping a hand with basics, or you'll be on the draw (you're playing Sneak & Breach; of course you won G1), meaning they can fetch the one basic their deck needs to function. And that's assuming you have the resources to Moon on T1 rather than waiting 'til T2, when you might as well not even play it.
Somewhat relatedly, I've been considering the merits of Blood Sun over Blood Moon. There are pros and cons to each in the deck:
Blood Moon: Your Cities and Needles don't die, and your Tomb doesn't damage you any further. If your opponent isn't able to play around it, they'll struggle to cast spells, and it can win you a game, potentially. A big downside is that it's easy to play around, and it does give your opponent mana. Even though it's red mana, that can lead to potential artifact destruction, which can break your Chalices or worse. You lose the speed of your sol lands, and it's also totally useless against basically any red deck.
Blood Sun: Your Cities don't die. EtB draw a card can be extremely helpful when this is a dead draw and you have a bit of mana to spare. This card completely shuts off your opponents' fetches, and punishes them hard for keeping a greedy land hand. I've had multiple games where I played this and my opponent needed the extra mana that Blood Moon would have given them to win the game. The downside is that it doesn't stop nonbasics from generating mana normally, but given the abundance of basics in my meta, I am considering maindecking these in lieu of Moon for a while and seeing how they play out. Blood Sun also doesn't allow you to use your Needles, as they can't produce mana without depletion counters.
Now, let's look at my previously mentioned cards that I stated I'd be testing:
Meteor Golem - A 3/3 for 7 mana that destroys a non-land on EtB is okay, but I found similar issues with Woodfall Primus that I did with this card. Decent in theory, poor in execution.
Oblivion Sower - I never found a situation where I wanted Oblivion Sower when I had it. Every time I drew it, I said to myself, "Wow, I wish I had Inferno Titan or Wurmcoil Engine." Its land-stealing was just never relevant enough for me to be wowed with it.
Scuttling Doom Engine - Strictly worse than Inferno Titan. 'nuff said.
Additionally, I've tested: Reality Smasher - Reality Smasher is amazing. Some people will say it runs anathema to what the deck wants to be doing, but dependent on how heavily your meta sways towards stuff like D&T or Delver, Reality Smasher can be better than Inferno Titan. Forcing your opponent to go into card disadvantage to deal with your threat is extremely valuable, as is the fact that it's a 5-drop instead of a 6-drop. If you don't draw a sol land or you get Wastelanded, it's not the absolute worst Sneak target you can put in, as it can go toe-to-toe with Gurmag Angler and punch through a Batterskull like it's a Butterskull. That said, you usually want to hardcast this guy, which you'll usually have the mana for after dropping Sneak Attack. The haste and trample are just gravy.
Sin Prodder - I actually haven't gotten to test Sin Prodder, yet. I will possibly be looking into this when I come back to this deck. On that note...
I'm going to be testing Omnitell for the foreseeable future, but will invariably come back to this deck prooobably pretty regularly and let you guys know more testing results. If you come up with any interesting creatures or fatties you want tested in Sneak & Breach, let me know. I'll assess whether or not it's worth it, and whether or not I'm willing to try it out to provide you with more data.
Hope this helps!
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
Lately, I feel like the deck has been underperforming for me. I'm swapping out my sideboard Pyroclasms for Kozilek's Returns to see if that bumps up my win rate against D&T after siding, as Mother of Runes can cause problems for early board control when trying to land a Sneak Attack with Phyrexian Revoker, Containment Priest, and/or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben out. Undying Flames is still amazing in just about any match-up that's prepared to shut down your Sneak Attack/other options for cheating creatures in, or preventing you from attacking, like Humility or Ensnaring Bridge. Seriously, nobody expects it, and everyone always goes, "Huh?" when I cast it.
Another swap I've been eyeing is Pyroblast. When you're going off, it's extremely difficult to have an extra mana with which to keep your Pyroblast open for smashing that Force of Will or Daze, especially in the early turns. Trinisphere is the obvious choice, but I think I like the idea of Defense Grid a little bit better, as it's just as likely as Trinisphere to eat an early counterspell, but it doesn't shut off your Petals/Chalices in their usefulness and speed. Defense Grid also has the added benefit of being castable off of a single sol land. I'm currently testing 2 Defense Grid/1 Pyroblast in the sideboard since Pyroblast can still be handy to remove pesky Jaces/Cliques, which can shut you out from going off, but ultimately, I'm leaning away from that, as 9 times out of 10 you would rather try to force your opponents' counterspells on things that prevent them from being able to stop you with more counterspells sooner in the game than let it get to the point of where you might actually need a Pyroblast. If you're not winning early on, you probably didn't keep the best hand. I'll likely to 0 Pyroblast/3 Defense Grid at some point for testing purposes and see how that shakes out. I recognize that sometimes, the deck loses to itself, by merit of not having red sources or just by bad beats. It happens with all decks. But even if it feels bad, mulling aggressively can sometimes be the difference between victory and defeat, especially with a combo deck.
One other thing I'm considering trying out is completely removing Sandstone Needle for 2 more Mountains. While the explosive start is amazing against decks that don't run Wasteland, Wasteland is a card that's become extremely prevalent in my meta, and my starts suffer for it. Odds are, when you draw a land mid-game, as well, you also don't want it to be Sandstone Needle. For some reason, I've been having a colossal difficulty drawing red sources, which has been screwing me out of wins I should otherwise be getting.
I'll make the aforementioned changes and report back. Unfortunately, in February, I likely won't be able to play any Legacy, but I'll report back with my findings once I feel I've gotten sufficient testing.
Also, I got to hardcast Emrakul against Miracles in a recent 2k, so that was fun.
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
Lately, I've felt like I need a 3rd Sneak effect/a 5-drop creature with comparably big impact to Inferno Titan to replace that slot, and this fits exactly that criteria. Our Sneak & Breach overlords at WotC have heard my prayers.
I'm going to be testing this as a 4-of, and I'll also be testing out the new Neheb to see how he works for the deck (though I imagine he's not the best-suited for the job, but how can I turn down at least trying out a 5/4 Trampler for 4 with looting and mana production as part of what the deck already wants to be doing?).
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I'll post results as I have them, of course, but in the meantime, I have mixed feelings on the London mulligan for the deck. On one hand, it potentially incentivizes keeping greedy hands, as going all-in on the T1 kill can be crippling when your opponent has that FoW they kept because they knew you'd be trying to go off early. On the other hand, it feels like this dramatically increases the chances of the deck being able to win against decks that don't run FoW, so...it's a toss-up, for me, but I'm leaning towards it overall being a buff to the deck.
Thoughts?
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Worldspine Wurm
3 Ilharg, the Raze-Board
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Through the Breach
4 Blood Moon
4 Sneak Attack
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Lotus Petal
4 City of Traitors
12 Mountain
2 Pithing Needle
2 Undying Flames
3 Defense Grid
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Kozilek's Return
I decided to go 3 Ilharg/3 Breach/3 Worldspine/2 Emrakul/2 Wurmcoil. I haven't been playing Sandstone Needles recently due to the prevalence of Wasteland decks in my meta, but I've been seeing less of them, recently, so maybe I'll go back up to 2. I've come to accept that most decks don't have a set, definitive list, and that they're breathing entities that flow with your meta. With this in mind, I have a number of flex/sideboard cards for most of my decks, and will keep things updated to acclimate to my meta as best as I can. Bit of a tangent; sorry.
Anyway: 3 Ilharg/3 Breach opens up some flexibility in the type of Sneak effects I can run (4 Sneak Attack is always a must, though), and can vary in effectiveness dependent upon my access to red mana. Ilharg, in itself, is also an effective hardcast, taking the place of Inferno Titan (who also requires double red, but makes us less mana-intensive, overall). More Ilharg makes us more vulnerable to Karakas, so I upped the number of Worldspines and Wurmcoils to 3 and 2, respectively, as both cards are threats that need to be answered immediately in this format. Increasing the quantity of our other nonlegendary creatures also allows us some breathing room with the increased density of Sneak effects, as it gives us less chance of running into multiple Griselbrands/Emrakuls as our only options for Sneaking in multiple creatures in a turn, and gives us some solid gains off of hardcasting creature options. I'm finding Wurmcoil to be more essential for the longer games, where you Breach in a Griselbrand, draw 14, and completely whiff, as well as the fact that it eats Anglers and Batterskulls for breakfast, even outpacing the latter in terms of lifegain. Even the tokens Wurmcoil generates need to be dealt with reasonably quickly, and the lack of need for red mana for it means that even if you only have sol lands, you still have a board presence. I kept Emrakul at 2, because, while a 3rd is tempting, she often doesn't close out games if you get her, and only her, early on; we don't want too many Legends/dependencies on Sneak effects if we can help it for the aforementioned reasons; and she's the most cuttable Sneak fatty for us on multiple levels. Goldfishing with her at 3 felt like I saw her far too often when I wanted to be seeing more Wurms (of either variety), so that's why they won the numbers game on that level.
Anyway, without further ado, tournament report:
R1:
0-2 against Miracles.
G1, he had the opening hand FoW (of course) and I couldn't keep out or resolve anything after he landed a JTMS.
G2, I didn't draw any of the 9 cards I sided in against him, and the one Chalice I did manage to land, his Teferi noped away pretty hard. I got 5 dead draws in a row, and was just totally hosed.
R2:
Got the bye. No test data.
R3:
1-2 against Dack Fires.
G1, I got the kill so quickly I had no idea what he was on.
G2, I misplayed by Breaching in Ilharg instead of Griselbrand because I was excited to test the new card out and wasn't considering the possibility of an Edict. He dropped Liliana's Triumph and I lost my Ilharg, and he controlled the rest of the game with Dack Fires. I checked to see what I was going to draw with Griselbrand, compared it to what he had, and the game would have been mine if not for that mistake.
G3, he Thoughtseized my Sneaks and Breaches, and stole my Wurmcoil with Punishing Fires because I forgot he had a Dack emblem. Whoops.
R4:
1-2 against Stoneblade.
G1, I landed an Ilharg, and he kept using StP on my Ilharg, but I kept casting Ilharg after drawing him back, again, who then smashed through anything else he had. He could not outpace the lifegain he was giving me by Swordsing Ilharg, and I was able to get out a Griselbrand and draw 21 off of him because of it, which was more than enough to wrap up the game.
G2, I only drew lands and sideboard cards. Nothing to impact the gamestate with.
G3, I landed Sneak Attack, then went to use Sneak Attack on the next turn with 1 red mana open. He flashed in Containment Priest in response, and [i]I forgot I could respond to the cast to Sneak in Emrakul[i]. I was tired and haven't played the deck in a few months, so, mistakes were bound to happen.
All in all, the deck feels strong. I would have gone 3-1 if not for my misplays, which is pretty good in a blue-heavy meta, which is basically the bane of Sneak & Breach decks. I'm going to try 4 Breach and 2 Ilharg, and 2 Breach and 4 Ilharg, and see how those do. I still don't have Nehebs, yet, so it's indeterminate as to how effective he will be when the time comes or when I'll be able to test him. As it is, I can currently only play Legacy every other week or so due to my work schedule.
Will report back with more data when I have it.
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player