New to Death and Taxes? Looking for up-to-date info? Try Phil Gallagher's (medea) site for all things Death and Taxes: http://www.thrabenuniversity.com/
I. Introduction and Decklist
In development since Time Spiral came out, Death and Taxes has become a peculiar kind of control deck. But since it is mostly creatures doing the controlling (with disruption and tricks), it looks like little more than white weenie to the casual observer. The idea is to aggressively land creatures while creating a difficult environment for the opponent's deck to thrive in. "Taxes" refers to this kind of disruption. It never establishes complete control over the game though. The deck wins by delaying or negating elements of the opponent's strategy while its creatures nip at their life total. Games are intricate with many moving parts as Death and Taxes slows the game down to a grind.
Death and Taxes is not especially fast. The control is not particularly powerful. It does not have a killer combo finish. It does not even have any especially broken cards. What it does have is a strategy that dismantles the engines of other decks and the ability to coax them into playing its game, not their own. Against other decks that hope to win with "fair" creatures in aggro or aggro-control style, D+T offers a robust assortment of creatures that modify the rules just enough to keep opponents on their heels. Against "unfair" decks D+T is still formidable, using atypical cards and disruption styles that hit these decks where it hurts most. Really, only a few decks have the upper hand against D&T. Also, it seems that players have a hard time estimating the cumulative effect of the elements D+T brings to the table. You can expect most players who are not intimately familiar with the deck to continue to underestimate it even after seeing what it can do. See the matchups and video sections for details.
To pilot the deck close to its potential you have to have detailed knowledge of both your deck and your opponent's deck. Learning both your deck plus basically every deck you will face is a daunting task, especially in Legacy, but it is the nature of this deck to demand - and reward you for it. To assist all of you with this I will try to keep the matchup section up-to-date with the help of the other contributors.
As you can imagine, there are plenty of creatures that have the potential to see play in a deck as broad as this one. There may be references in this primer to cards that are not in the deck that follows. Feel free to experiment with any disruptive creatures you wish, but the decklists here will be pretty close to ideal for competitive Legacy.
Being a mono-colored deck, it lacks the raw power of some of the many-color decks that you will be facing. But Legacy is perennially overloaded with decks trying to eke out every drop from their lands. This results in unstable manabases that can be ransacked. Death and Taxes arguably has the strongest mana denial suite in the format in part because it gets to use more of its lands to deprive those same greedy decks of their mana. This element alone will win plenty of games.
Ia. Budget Versions
Generally speaking, there is no way to build a budget version of this deck. The deck functions as a unit, and the expensive lands are as much a part of that as any other facet. For example, when you open a game on the play with Rishadan Port --> Aether Vial followed by turn 2 Karakas and then turn 3 Wasteland with Thalia coming in off the Vial, you have created a classic D&T environment. The taxation started on turn 2 (setting your opponent back to their mana supply as it was on turn 1) and became much more intensive on turn 3, putting you several turns out in front. Your opponent has to wait until at least turn 4 to zap Thalia since he is effectively down three mana at this point. By then you have Karakas and Vial untapped. Even if he has the removal, you can just pull Thalia back in your hand and Vial her back out before his removal spell even resolves. He is pinned and being attacked with no immediate way out. There are plenty of variations of this opening, but none of them work unless your lands contribute more than just mana. Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter don't count. Your lands prevent the opponent from getting his deck going while you set up and then disable his ability to easily break free. If you don't have Karakas, don't bother with Mangara. If you don't have Waste and Port, you do not have strong mana denial. At this point, your deck is missing the "Taxes". You are just playing White Weenie. That said, get Port, then Wasteland, then Karakas last.
********************************************************* II. What makes it special?
This deck makes use of tricks of rules and timing in many common game scenarios. You can use the deck without taking advantage of these timing opportunities, but then you will not be playing the deck optimally. I am going to try to provide something close to an exhaustive list here to help.
Mangara soft lock is a simple, repeatable removal tool. You are going to find that opponents will stop at nothing to rid themselves of Mangara once they understand what he can do. This will almost always be true even if you don't consider him to be your best tool at the moment. Mangara hardcast on turn four with Karakas still untapped is usually a superior play to Mangara on turn three using Karakas for mana.
1. How does the Mangara soft lock work?
You tap him and return him with Karakas or "flicker" him from play with the Flickerwisp while his ability is on the stack. He will remove a permanent from the game and not himself if he is off the battlefield when his ability resolves. Do not tap Mangara and ask "OK?". You have to respond with the unsummon or flicker effect before you ask for a response or a savvy opponent will simply do nothing and you will not get a chance to.
2. If you are removing mana sources, do it on your own turn whenever possible.
3. If you are trying to maximize instead, consider something like this:
-a. block a Nimble Mongoose
-b. tap to remove an attacking Tarmogoyf from the game
-c. use Karakas or Flickerwisp to circumvent Mangara removing himself from the game
1. Vial it in to save Mangara or Grunt from themselves.
2. Hardcast it to "untap" one of your creatures after combat.
3. Vial it in to "Port" an opponent's land on their upkeep or (even better) at your own end of turn step.
4. Hardcast it targeting your own land to make it essentially only cost two mana.
5. Hardcast it to remove a blocker.
6. Vial it in to prevent an opposing creature from attacking for a turn.
7. Vial it in to take out Counterbalance so you can cast a spell.
8. Vial it in to counter a removal spell from your opponent.
9. Vial it in to temporarily remove Standstill.
10. Hardcast it to make a Phyrexian Dreadnought look silly.
11. Hardcast it removing Vial, Chalice, or Engineered Explosives to remove all counters. {snicker}
12. Hardcast it targeting Stoneforge Mystic to get extra equipment.
13. Hardcast it targeting another Flickerwisp to have the other Flickerwisp remove a permanent for the entire next turn.
14. Vial it in to rescue your chump blocker.
15. Hardcast it to switch your Phyrexian Revoker, Oblivion Ring, Runed Halo, or Leonin Relic-Warder from one target to another.
16. Hardcast it to essentially take out a Mox Diamond (or Chrome Mox).
17. Hardcast it to "rebirth" a germ token by targeting an unequipped Batterskull.
18. Vial it in to abuse the hell out of Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, Leonin Relic-Warder, or similar cards. Here's how:
e. Oblivion Ring's second ability resolves, returning the Siege-Gang Commander to the battlefield, which, of course never left in the first place - so nothing happens.
stack = 1. exile SGC
f. Oblivion Ring's first ability then resolves, exiling Siege-Gang Commander permanently (since the return trigger already resolved).
g. At the beginning of your end step, Flickerwisp's delayed trigger returns Oblivion Ring to the battlefield, exiling another nonland permanent as normal.
1. Like Mangara, Thalia can be returned to your hand simply by tapping Karakas at any time.
2. Thalia has first strike, so she can deal combat damage and be returned to hand before receiving damage. With a Sword of Fire and Ice that means that she can inflict up to six points of damage and not take damage in return.
3. If she is carrying a Jitte, she can deal combat damage, get counters on the Jitte, and use them before any other creatures deal damage. She could use the counters to buff her defense before that attacker deals damage or deal additional damage to kill the attacker before it deals its damage back to her. She can even use the counters to kill a different attacker before it deals its damage. Or you can gain four life before taking combat damage to your life total, which is a weakness of Jitte used with other creatures.
This little guy is a powerhouse. An improved Pithing Needle with an aggressive 2/1 body. Almost every legacy deck has nonland permanents with nifty (or even game-breaking) abilities, and Revoker can turn them off while smashing face. Opponents loathe him once they realize what he does (beyond just turn off stuff), and if he has Mom backup he becomes a serious problem. In fact, in certain matchups I'd say Revoker is our strongest card--more so than Thalia, Mangara or even Swords to Plowshares.
Before we get to his myriad uses, let's first deconstruct what makes this card so versatile.
First, his color--or lack thereof. With the prevalence of Mother of Runes in Maverick decks (as well as out own), Revoker becomes a stellar blocker. If he has a Sword of Light and Shadow attached to him and he's stifling a Qasali Pridemage, we have essentially won against Maverick--on top of gaining the ability to block an 11/11 Knight of the Reliquary all day long. Revoker also sticks around if a Dread of Night, Sulfur Elemental or Virtue's Ruin hits, and trades with [CARD]
Etched Champion[/CARD] (some of these obviously being niche cases but nevertheless uses).
Second, his body: 2/1 means that he loves to attack. Sadly, like many of the creatures in our deck, this also means he hates Forked Bolt or Golgari Charm effects, and dies if he's blocked by anything. However, if you give him a sword, Revoker's a champ, and the +1 power he has over, say, Stoneforge Mystic is what helps you keep your clock spinning.
Lastly, his ability: Revoker's wording, like Mangara of Corondor's, makes him particularly difficult to handle, especially for opponent who like to say "In Response...". Here's the wording as it is printed:
As Phyrexian Revoker enters the battlefield, name a nonland card.
Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name can't be activated.
As it enters--not when. There's no triggering, so there's nothing to respond to. That is to say, if an opponent has a Grim Lavamancer, two cards in his or her graveyard and a mountain untapped and you cast Revoker, they cannot burn the Revoker using the Lavamancer's ability.
Similarly, let's say your opponent casts Show and Tell. They choose Griselbrand; you choose Revoker. You can name Griselbrand as both come into play, and they cannot draw seven using Griselbrand's ability.
Revoker also stops mana abilites like Lion's Eye Diamond and Elvish Spirit Guide. This is actually very relevant, and allows us to hit mana denial beyond lands. Again, this is why I argue that Revoker is our most versatile weapon in the deck, right behind Flickerwisp.
Alright, now that we understand Revoker's subtle complexities, let's move onto his application. As I stated earlier, nearly every deck in Legacy has permanents that Revoker can turn off, crippling those decks midly to severely. Here is the beginning of what I hope to be an exhaustive list of Revoker-relevant matchups, sorted by number of targets and the priority of what should be "revoked."
Start with Qasali Pridemage if you're blindly revoking. QP is that deck's only maindeck artifact hate. However, like all of our matchups, you need to study what you opponent is doing in order to make your best possible plays. Is the Mav pilot stuck on a single forest and 3 Noble Hierarchs or Deathrite Shamans? Cut off his mana supply. Is he clobbering you with unblockable fatties via Mom, or preventing STP with a Sylvan Safekeeper? Revoke them.
Short List:
Qasali Pridemage, Knight of the Reliquary, Noble Hierarch/Deathrite Shaman/Birds of Paradise, Scryb Ranger, Umezawa's Jitte, Mother of Runes, Sylvan Safekeeper, Scavenging Ooze.
UWx Stoneblade
Like Maverick, Stoneblade is another deck with plenty of targets, but you need to weed out which ones are priority. Did they go for the turn-2 SFM-Batterskull, or the turn-5 SFM-Batterskull? Do you have removal, or a means to stop Batterskull from being a problem? If they went for the early Mystic-Skull combo, revoke the Mystic; later, Batterskull. Umezawa's Jitte and (if they run it) a "Sword of X and Y" should also be your targets. Jace the Mind Sculptor is also a problem if not dealt with, and should be revoked to hinder their JMS-ultimate alt-win. With the printing of the stomach-churning True-Name Nemesis, Umezawa's Jitte has become a higher priority target.
Short List:
Stoneforge Mystic, Umezawa's Jitte, Engineered Explosives (only in Esper builds) Batterskull, Jace the Mind Sculptor, other equipment and planeswalkers as needed.
Short List:
Cranial Plating, Tezzerret, Agent of Bolas, Arcbound Ravager (less used nowadays), other relevant goodies.
Elves
Only matchup I can think of with too many targets. It's going to be situational and, honestly, this is where having good instincts and lots of experience piloting the deck help. Heritage Druid is okay on a blind revoke, but Priest of Titania/Elvish Archdruid are good to grab after. Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote round up your targets.
Short List: Heritage Druid, Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, Quirion Ranger, Wirewood Symbiote, any of the other mana dweebs they run.
Jund
This matchup is a 7-10 split. Do you choose Deathrite Shaman to cut them off mana stability and utility? Or do you turn off Liliana of the Veil, one of their best trump cards against us? The answer is never going to be an easy one, but air on the side of Liliana first unless they are obviously relying on Deathrite and you lack removal for it.
Short List:
Liliana of the Veil, Deathrite Shaman
Shardless BUG
This one is similar to the Jund matchup, but you have Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the mix. Here Liliana is generally more relied upon, however, due to a lack of removal, with most Shardless decks running four Abrupt Decay and maybe one Maelstrom Pulse. As such, revoke Lilly first (unless, as with the Jund section above, you see them leaning on Deathrite). Jace and Deathrite are your two remaining targets, so choose them wisely. If they're going for Goyf/Tarpit beats, shutdown the shaman to stymie their assault; if they're going for a more Jace-centric win (or just brainstormming for free), make sure you remind them that you like your deck just the way it is. Remember: this deck is all about understanding your opponent's deck and strategy and becoming a foil to that; find a pressure point and strike!
Short List:
Liliana of the Veil, Jace the Mind Sculptor, Deathrite Shaman
UWr Delver
There's only two things Revoker cares about in this matchup: Grim Lavamancer (post-board) and Umezawa's Jitte. Stoneforge is also relevant, but Batterskull isn't a card we typically fear. Jitte is usually their first grab with SFM against us anyway.
Short List:
Grim Lavamancer, Umezawa's Jitte, Stoneforge Mystic.
Death & Taxes
With the recent explosion of popularity and success our deck has been experiencing, naturally we should begin to expect the mirror match more often, especially at Opens and GPs. The mirror is, like all mirrors, awkward; often Revoker on both sides will make both of your decks play dumb. If you manage to get a Revoker out first, look at how they are playing: is it early and they're relying on an Aether Vial? Or are they going more aggro, relying on equipment? Read your opponent as best as you can (they'll be doing the same) and utilize your Revokers as best as you can. Remember: Revoker can also serve as a lightning rod! Revoke something crucial to your opponent if you're holding back a trump like Crusader or Mangara.
Short List (somewhat ordered by relevance):
Aether Vial, Umezawa's Jitte, Mother of Runes, Stoneforge Mystic, Mangara of Corondor, Sword of Fire and Ice
Goblins
Krenko, Mob Boss is your best bet going blind. Beware Goblin Sharpshooter, as he will blow you out. Combined with Skirk Prospector, shooter can wipe out your dudes easily. Siege-Gang Commander is also a problem if not dealt with, and revoking their Aether Vial can choke up their goblin production. Grab Gempalm Incinerator to prevent their best source of removal.
Cursecatcher notwithstanding, you're left with Coralhelm Commander and Aether Vial as your targets. Its up to you to decide what is more relevant--the fish player having access to a vial or you.
Short List:
Coralhelm Commander, Aether Vial
NicFit
Depending on the build, there are multiple variants of this deck to prepare against, but all run Pernicious Deed and Liliana of the Veil. Stop them first. Wickerbough Elder is used in non-white variants, QP is white-splashers. Revoke a Sensei's Diving Top early in the game to cut them off from their only means of draw correction. Recurring Nightmare is a late-game target to consider as well.
Short List:
Pernicious Deed, Liliana of the Veil, Sensei's Diving Top, Qasali Pridemage/Wickerbough Elder, Recurring Nightmare.
MiracleTop
Go for their Top first, then their JMS. Otherwise, this deck has literally no other targets.
Short List:
Sensei's Diving Top, Jace the Mind Sculptor
Sneak & Show
Another deck with few targets, but they're much more of a pain to deal with if not shut down: Griselbrand and Sneak Attack. Fortunately, Show & Tell allows us a chance to play revoker for free--and, in my opinion, he should always be your shown and told permanent. You can grab Lotus Petal, but it's a waste of a revoker.
Short List:
Griselbrand, Sneak Attack.
Dredge
Lion's Eye Diamond is your first target. Putrid Imp is good if you want to take away a discard outlet, but it's overkill at that point.
Short List:
Lion's Eye Diamond, Putrid Imp
Storm Combo (TES, ANT)
Go for LED first, then Lotus Petal or Chrome Mox. Shutting down CM off a vial makes me chuckling inside.
Short List:
Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox
Short List:
Goblin Bombardment, Carrion Feeder, Liliana of the Veil.
Painter-Stone
Grindstone. Grindstone, Grindstone, Grindstone. Welder and Spellskite are decent targets, but Grindstone is their win con.
Short List:
Grindstone, Welder or Spellskite if necessary.
Deadguy Ale
This will be more about matching his plays than being able to blindly drop a Revoker. Deadguy and D&T are cut from a similar cloth, and have roughly the same development speed. Stoneforge Mystic or Liliana of the Veil are decent blind, but taking out a Sensei's Divining Top, Jitte or Batterskull can be equally useful. This is a matchup where you should have plenty of time to figure out the best way the trip him up.
Short List:
Stoneforge Mystic, Liliana of the Veil, Sensei's Diving Top, Umezawa's Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow, Batterskull.
12 Post
This is a matchup that depends on one question: will you have Mangara active before they have a monster squashing you? Even though Mangara and Wasteland are the all stars, Revoker still has plenty of targets. Candelabra of Tawnos is enemy number one, but Expedition Map and Sensei's Diving Top are equally good. Beware Oblivion Stone from the board.
Short List:
Candelabra of Tawnos, Sensei's Divining Top, Expedition Map, Oblivion Stone
1. You can keep a big beastie from killing you with Children of Korlis and any other creature eqiupped with a Sword of Light and Shadow. Burrenton Forge-Tender can also accomplish this (and does not require you to take the damage first), but only against something red like Progenitus.
2. If you are facing an opponent who has a Life from the Loam engine, you can often get rid of it if you set your Vial to 2 and put a Jotun Grunt onto the battlefield at his end of turn step.
3. Phyrexian Revoker can prevent mana production from nonland cards cards such as Mox Opal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Elvish Archdruid, Noble Hierarch, and even Simian Spirit Guide. It is a surprisingly important detail in this deck.
4. Aether Vial and Stoneforge Mystic have abilities that put cards directly onto the battlefield. When you activate them, the ability goes onto the stack, and you ask if it resolves. Only when and if it resolves do you reveal which card to move to the battlefield. You don't have to put anything onto the battlefield or even have an appropriate card for it in hand. In fact, you can activate these things just to pretend like you do. This can be very important if you are "vialing" Phyrexian Revoker. The opponent does not get to see the Revoker beforehand and (unlike when it is cast) can not respond to what gets revoked - if you do it right.
5. What is the best time to play Stoneforge Mystic? It depends. Against many opponents, your path to victory is an equipped flier. If you have the mana available, go for it. In other cases, you don't want to march it into a counterspell, so bait the counters with something else.
6. How do I "unsummon" or "flicker" a creature carrying a Jitte during combat so that the creature does not take damage, and yet the Jitte gets counters?
You can't (except with Thalia, who has first strike).
7. Know how to play Karakas. If the opponent can kill lands, a lost Port is less of a hassle than Karakas. If you have two, try to get him to waste a card on the first one. Play Plains before Karakas unless you have two legendary lands in the opening hand. If you have only Plains out, and the opponent plays Wasteland, you can use your own Wasteland on it, leaving him no target. Or just hit it while it is tapped. I see opponents using Wasteland on my Ports frequently, especially if I landed a turn 1 Vial. This is always good for us.
8. The creatures in D+T are there to provide disruption and also aggression. So you played a couple of opponents where Flickerwisp was nothing special? It happens. Just don't be hasty and start reworking the deck after only a few matches. They are all going to be mediocre from time to time. Adjust them in the main/sideboard to suit.
9. Deathrite Shaman, Birds of Paradise, and Noble Hierarch can hurt you a lot. Hit them with Swords to Plowshares turn one. Same goes for Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. If you have Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp, either is a very good target.
10. Unlike most control decks, it is the creatures that do the controlling in D&T. You will need to commit several of them to pin down your opponent in almost all cases, so only hold back against board control decks with sweepers.
11. Don't take chances with losing priority. You pass priority by default once you take an action, so when you tap Mangara, use Karakas or Aether Vial immediately (you can tap Mangara and Karakas simultaneously as a short cut once you explain it to your opponent) or announce that you are retaining priority.
12. What is the best time to play Thalia? On your own turn as soon as you can, even if it is with an Aether Vial.
13. Can I use Aether Vial to "Vial in" Thalia in response to an opponent's spell forcing him to pay more? No.
14. If an opponent has Sensei's Divining Top on the battlefield and you want to tap one of his lands during upkeep with Rishadan Port, pay close attention to his activations. Wait to see if he uses the Top on his upkeep. If he wishes to use the Top during his upkeep, he has to do so and then pass priority. So wait to see if he uses it before tapping a land. If he uses it without consulting you, just tap a land after he has finished. If he asks you if you wish to tap one without using his Top first, you should generally decline because he has then lost his opportunity to use the Top as long as you also pass priority back. You can then tap a land during his draw step, after he draws.
15. When do I leave Aether Vial at two counters, and when do I tick it up to three? This is a tough one. The cards in your hand are certainly a good indicator. The board state also is important. Have you established control yet? And the opponent's deck is significant also. Do you fear counterspells that might otherwise be sitting dormant in the opponent's hand? When unsure, I commonly feel safe going to three if I am holding Flickerwisp with nothing terribly important to flicker on the opponent's side. I just flicker the Vial to reset it.
******************************************************** III. Position in the Field
What it is relatively strong against
1. Miracles
2. RUG/Delver
3. ANT/TES
4. all Stoneblade decks including Deathblade
5. Reanimator
6. Sneaky Show and Tell
What it is about even against
1. Maverick
2. Goblins
3. Lands
4. Merfolk
5. OmniShow
6. High Tide
7. Shardless BUG
What it is relatively weak against
1. Elves
2. 12-Post Eldrazi
3. Belcher
4. Punishing Jund
IV. History
This is neither the first nor the most recent competitive deck of my design in Legacy, but it has always been my favorite. It started from an idea that actually predates Legacy by nearly a decade. It goes that if you can continue to cast cheap creatures that your opponent has to deal with, his deck will eventually fall apart. The idea came from noticing how something like Royal Assassin could simply stop an opponent in his tracks. Later it was Goblin Welder and then Meddling Mage. Unlike today, the game used to have very few of these kinds of creatures. Enchantments could occasionally do the same thing, but you can't attack with them. So they are less attractive in terms of design. While radical for its time, it was also awful in all of its early forms. The power of these cards was just too low to make any kind of tournament deck from them. But then something began to change. Slowly at first, only a nudge at a time, but increasingly as the years have rolled on...creatures (and creature removal) have been growing in power relative to other cards. Right around the birth of Legacy in 2004, I found myself fooling around with this idea yet again. Windborn Muse Meddling Mage Rootwater Thief True Beliver Mother of Runes Glowrider Preacher
These were amongst the cards in something that sat fallow until in 2006 when Mangara of Corondor got printed. Right about that same time, I set about to prove that Aether Vial was broken. It started with me writing an article on the subject. This one, in fact. Well, I was not quite right about Aether Vial. But I realized that I needed a suitable deck to prove my point. Mangara was the perfect place to start.
Mangara's wording is a throwback to an older style. Nevinyrral's Disk and Carrionette are amongst some older cards that get rid of themselves upon resolution (and not as a payment). It makes for some interesting potential. For example, if the opponent pays the 2 to avoid Carrionette's ability, it stays in the graveyard. Also, you can respond to its activation as many times as you have mana for to exile multiple creatures before it resolves or use Tortured Existence to retrieve it with its ability waiting to resolve. Nevinyrral's Disk does not sacrifice itself, so it can be regenerated or otherwise saved from its own ability. Chaos Orb is also like this as are a few others...like Mangara of Corondor.
As soon as Time Spiral got spoiled I saw the strange wording and knew what had to be done. I tried out a few different directions, but the deck was decidedly aggro at the time. There were still too few little guys with strong disruptive power to go full control. I also want to point out that in December 2006 Legacy was still a very young format with only a handful of full-time players. The existing "white weenie" deck at that time, called Angel Stompy was not very good. This was in part due to the fact that there just were not enough people designing and testing decks and also because the white creatures available were not strong compared to other old cards. I was aware of this and hoped that either white or green/white would work simply because there were other strong decks in the other color combinations to compete with.
~2007
+Stonecloaker (I was testing it as soon as it was spoiled.)
+Umezawa's Jitte (Included to keep D+T from losing to Umezawa's Jitte. Go figure.)
-Hokori, Dust Drinker (The 4 cmc cost was unwieldy and Landstill died.)
-Glowrider (Turned out to be a disaster in a few matchups. )
+Cataclysm (Nuts against most everything that was not blue, and some that were.)
+Oblivion Ring (More powerful removal than the creatures available. So more removal it is.)
-Tangle Wire (How it lasted this long is a mystery.)
~2009
-Isamaru, Hound of Konda (New simplified damage rules removed damage on the stack tricks.)
-Stonecloaker (New simplified damage rules removed damage on the stack tricks.)
-Oblivion Ring(Too slow for accelerating speed of the format. Remains in some sideboards.)
+Stoneforge Mystic (Equipment package made D+T's creatures customizable. Only deck to use the card at the time.)
+Mother of Runes (Consistently equipped creatures made protecting them more important.)
+Enlightened Tutor (Sideboard improvement for the highly varied metagame that was emerging.)
+Wasteland (Overall reduction in cmc of D+T's spells make this possible.)
~2010
+Phyrexian Revoker (Coinciding with Jace, it keeps the deck moving up in power)
-Goldmeadow Harrier and similar 1 mana filler cards. (These were the last underpowered cards to get removed)
~2012
+Rest in Peace (Such powerful graveyard hate that it can be used even against decks with incidental graveyard use)
~2013
Thomas Enevoldsen and Michael Bonde own GP Strasbourg, drawing lots of attention to what had been a sleeper deck. Opponents are far more likely to understand the deck ever since.
Notably, only Aether Vial, Rishadan Port, and Swords to Plowshares have been in every version of this deck since its inception. Every creature has been temporary in some fashion.
*Remember, D&T is a control deck. You win by exploiting the shortcomings of opposing decks. Look for the weak link in the chain!
(updated 10/4/12)
-Very good matchup
-You are control
-This deck seeks to win by using its resources early and decisively to deal lots of damage while countering or removing whatever defenses opponents can mount. It has some reach with red direct damage and a bit of defense coming in from the side board. You can usually blunt their attack or strangle their mana or both.
-Your goals are to prevent an early Nimble Mongoose or Insectile Abomination from killing you, and make good plays until you inevitably win. If you get some combination of SoFI and Mom preventing his removal from taking out critters, and you are slow rolling, be aware that he might be saving his burn for your head. Keep him off a color. Ports get used on green mana sources. We have lost a decent chunk of game 1 advantage by moving Jotun Grunt to the sideboard, but I have still been winning nearly 3/4 of my game 1's. Sulfur Elemental, Ancient Grudge, and Forked Bolt are all pretty strong against us. So if you do not have Grunts coming in from the side, you could actually lose.
-The best cards are your mana denial, Grunts and removal. Add more if you have it. Also, Rest in Peace.
(updated 8/13/11, matchup analysis by SwordsToTimeshares)
-Very Good Matchup
-You are control
-This deck seeks to empty its hand with a crushing amount of damage in the early turns. It has very little defense and no plan B. If you can disable the early onslaught you should be able to take control quite easily.
Revoker names Cranial Plating. That card will blow you out. This deck has a tendency to overextend due to its nature, and you can make him pay for it. Their lands are extremely susceptible to our hate, and Mangara online is a path to defeat for them. Keep him off blue to stop all his card-advantage in Thoughtcast and Tezz. Do not side out all your Moms just because the deck is 80-90% artifacts. Some of the new ones will run Dispatch and you may also need a blocker for Master of Etherium. Tezzeret goes off pretty quick so find a way to stop it. In games 2 and 3 you can side in Serenity if you run it in your Tutor package to completely blow them out helplessly. But you can probably still win without it.
-Your best cards are Phyrexian Revoker, Mangara of Corondor, and any artifact hate you side in.
-Very Good Matchup (updated 3/7/12 - analysis by SwordstoTimeshares, edited 10/23/12 by Finn)
-You are definitely control
-Reanimator wins by getting a powerful creature card into its graveyard and cheating it into play with Reanimate or a similar card. This requires a lot of things to go right for that deck, but they are usually easy to pull off. You can manhandle it from its mana supply to its graveyard to reacting to what is otherwise a game-ending creature.
-Sometimes they will have the nut hand and you will stare down a turn 2 game-ending fatty. Hide Karakas. Do not play it until they waste their Entomb on something they think will be a game ender like Jin Gitaxias, Elesh Norn, or Iona. Do not side out Mom. You can win the game with just her and Serra Avenger stalling the board until you accumulate enough resources to push through or get their creature(s) off the board. Their best card against may be Inkwell Leviathan since it becomes a clock no matter how you deal with it. All of their other good cards D&T has ways around. Also, if a Reanimator pilot uses Animate Dead on any creature card in your graveyard, just Flickerwisp the creature to take it from him. There is no way to manipulate Animate Dead in this way when it is attached to one of his own creatures.
-Your best cards are graveyard hate, search hate, Mom/Avenger, Thalia, removal, and Karakas.
(updated 1/24/12, matchup analysis by SwordsToTimeshares)
-Good matchup
-You are usually control.
-Your goals are usually to stall them out while you establish board control and defensive barriers. If they do not land a Mystic by Turn 4, I hope you've started beating face. Most of the time they will have one out very soon. They likely will grab Batterskull in Game 1, which we have so many ways to stop. Plowshare the Mystic to keep it at bay until Turn 5. Revoker naming Mystic. Revoker naming Batterskull. Flickerwisp the Germ token. Squeeze their mana and then Mangara it. Whereas we will have 25-27 creatures, they will be at 11-15, including man-lands. They are a slow deck as well but our long-term board plan is far superior. They aren't Landstill - at worst they have 2 Wrath of God, post-board - so Jace is not a game-ender when they play it. Eventually, as long as you played defensively - take early damage instead of blocking and using a single Mom to nullify it and opponent's possible lifegain if you think they even could have removal - your board position should overwhelm theirs.
-Your best cards are Mangara, Revoker, Mom, and Avenger.
(Matchup analysis by Lormador, Updated 8/27/13)
The three (four) most important interactions in this matchup (pre-board) are the following.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with Karakas behind her.
Equipment on the board.
Active Aether Vial.
Aven Mindcensor.
In addition, it's very good to keep a 'surprise' in reserve that can deal with a 4/4 Angel token and get past it for a few points of damage, such as a Fiend Hunter, or of course Flickerwisp out of an Aether Vial.
The way Miracles (and I'm usually working with the RIP-Helm variant) is going to win the game is either via that combo, Jace ultimate, or Angel tokens. The direst threat is actually the Angel tokens. Jace usually just brainstorms as much as possible until he's dealt with, and the combo depends on several moving parts, all of which are subject to Thalia taxation, being Revokered, and remaining in play through Flickerwisp. It's not impossible to pull off and is a threat to be aware of, but mostly what one has to deal with is Angel tokens. Even three of them is a problem, most of the time, given that one suffers a series of Terminus spells beforehand.
I'd put my tips against Miracles into this list.
Above all, don't overextend into a Terminus. If at any time Terminus goes down and you don't have another threat, you're lost.
Most of the time, you should aim Port at white mana. Be mindful of priority in various stages of the game against Top.
Try hard to avoid having to hardcast Batterskull. The opponent will try to force this so the equipment can be countered.
Against an active Top with a Vial, fake the tip a few times to absorb an opponent's mana. Once the Vial resolves, if a Revoker comes out there's no more opportunity to do so in response.
Their manabase is fetchland-heavy, and they may also bring Enlightened Tutor. Aven Mindcensor is a very key player.
[10/4/12 - I have found this matchup much better than 50/50 preboard and at least 50/50 postboard. You do not need or want to commit all your threats to the board in case of Terminus. Revoker on Divining Top with Mother of Runes protection is pretty darn strong. That deck wilts in the face of Thalia mixed with any other mana denial. And Mangara lock is at its best here. Just keep an eye on how many threats you are committing. If you lose two creatures to a Terminus two times in game one, you are probably still in good shape. - Finn]
(analysis provided by Garand2, updated 8/18/13)
The dominant BGx deck, packed with tons of card advantage. They quickly get board control, specifically since we can't punish a turn one suspended vision or a cascaded one.
Things to note: their manabase allmost allways runs 0 basics.They are soft to our mana denial, specially to thalia and wasteland. Your goal is to pressure them early and deny them untill you land mirran crusader.
Their only outs to mirran are Liliana, Jace bounce and sometimes a random deed: none of those are convincing, he is clearly MVP.
After sideboard things are pretty hard. They often got golgari charm, ingeneered plague or something of the sort and increase their pernicious deed count. Don't overextend, side out a couple one toughness guys to avoid getting blownout.
Don't keep a sketchy hand cos of vial, it can get decayed/fow'd too often.
Allways be aware of liliana game one, she can even come down turn 2 to wreck you. Games 2 and 3 they'll often side her out cos they have trouble keeping double black and fear phyrexian revoker.
Game 1 hit their black mana and revoke deathrite early if you can. Otherwise revoke liliana. Games 2 and 3 revoke deathrite then jace, or pernicious deed if you expect some from the SB. Try to prevent them from getting to jace mana.
Ethersworn canonist doesn't prevent shardless agent from cascading, but I side them in anyways. Land it right before a vision resolves, giving them a full hand but no chance of using it.
Decks with more mirran crusaders have a much better chance.
Remember cascade means they can't run daze, so don't fear it. They'll often only run FoW's as counters, and sometimes even side those out. Don't waste time playing around it.
If you can keep stp's for goyf, thalia outclasses all their creatures (strix, shardless, deathrite).
(Matchup analysis by DisgruntledElk, Updated 8/6/14)
-Good matchup
-You are the control
-The deck works similarly to RUG Delver in it's attack axis by applying pressure with both Delver and Tarmogoyf. but its answers to you are much better. Variants of the deck can range from any number of True-Name Nemesis and Tombstalker to Liliana of the Veil. Usually, they will have at least one Liliana. Everything else is fair game. They attempt to get ahead by utilizing mana-denial in the form of wastelands in conjunction with Deathrite Shaman.
-Your gameplan should be either to land 1-2 powerful threats such as Mirran Crusader and Mother of Runes to blunt their removal package of Abrupt Decay and Disfigure and then swing through, preferably with some equipment. Unless you can remove their Deathrite, the mana denial plan is fairly trivial, and as such you should revoke the elf immediately.
-Your best cards against them are Mother of Runes, Jitte/Sword, and Mirran Crusader. If you are able to protect Mirran Crusader from an edict, you can usually win off of him alone. Out of the board, Rest In Peace and Wilt-Leaf Liege are both trumps as they have virtually 0 ways to kill the liege, and it protects you from both Dread of Night and Golgari Charm. Rest in Peace neuters their Deathrite Shamans and goyfs, leaving them with only Delver to battle, which you can usually race/kill easily.
***Keep in mind, one of the worst cards in the matchup is actually Phyrexian Revoker. While it does shut off Deathrite and Lili, it is often simply a pithing needle, as it loses/trades with everything in combat. You are better off with Rest in Peace and removal than Revoker.
[I have found that this deck is overly dependent upon Deathrite Shaman. If you can neutralize it, their mana supply completely falls apart. -Finn]
(updated 2/15/16 - provided by Colin at The Source)
After playing some games against a straight up "run you over" eldrazi build I was 13-7 preboard (on the play 50% and 11-4 post board (50% on the play), it became very clear that the have some definite "trump hands" against us. Turn 1 chalice, turn 2 mimic and 4/4 endless one, turn three fatty really hurts. However, stoneforge->batterskull is pretty much all I needed to pull the games out.
I would make a couple notes to think about in this match:
1) I found land disruption to be a waste (pun intended) unless they stumble very, very badly. If you hold up on wastelanding and porting and just play creatures you will be suprised how well a linear strategy works.
2)contrary to my first note, in my playtesting killing an eye of ugin is huge. all their sol lands are good, but turn 2-3 with an eye in play usually means the eye "taps" for 4-6 mana. if they have the second copy. fine. it's better than a giant hasty trampler.
3)Batterskull basically wins you the game, the only real thing to watch for is a sandbagged thought-knot seer. Which they basically cant do, because it's one of their heavy hitters and if they're not playing big dudes, they're not winning. My opponent tried holding up TKS a few games to try and catch the equipment. The only game he won doing this he had 2 reality smashers.
4) ratchet bomb is amazing. if this deck sees a lot of play I'd suggest 2 in the board.
This match feels a lot like mono-red sneak attack but with a way better mana.
Edit: I would say that the part that makes us "favored" in this match is our options. Everything in D&T is there for just that reason, it gives us options. Eldrazi may become something different in the future, but for right now it's just so mono-directional that we can out maneuver them regularly. Both decks live off the top, D&T can just continue to layer and grind out value.
(updated 5/24/11)
-pretty good matchup
-You are aggro while disrupting his control
-Your goals are to prevent his measures from being fully successful while delivering a constant stream of damage. You have enough pertinent disruption in game 1 that you can occasionally squeak through. These games usually come down to who knows his deck (and the opponent's deck) better, so you had better practice it plenty. Game one is all about slowing down his engine until you get either superior board position or Mangara lock. He has outs for Mangara lock, but they are weak. He can Waste his own lands or sacrifice them to Zuran Orb when you target them. Superior board position indicates that you have Ports for his Mazes and he can't make his Factories big enough to matter. Neither of these measures is anything like an absolute for you. In fact, Jotun Grunt is the only thing that can mess with his engine at all, and it is weak. You will have to do things like Ring his Exploration, Flicker his Mox Diamond, Port or even Waste green mana sources (even though he can get them back) to limit his ability to Loam. If you are attacking this whole time, these measures can slow Lands down enough to get it done. Keep in mind that his best answer for your threats is Intuition into Engineered Explosives or something similar. That is a big investment in mana for him, and not a perfect solution anyway. Revoker can completely stop it. Flickerwisp can do the same if his mana is tied up. Even recursion of his explosives is complicated by your various disruption. So keep him on his heels.
Game two, you are in a far stronger position. You can still do all the things you were relying on for game one, but your focus has changed. What you truly want now is to land a good piece of graveyard disruption early on and ride it all the way. Wheel of Sun and Moon on turn two is a huge problem for him and should be your number one tutor target in the early game. Don't be hasty with Cataclysm. Wait until you get the most from it. One more thing; these matches can go very long and you have a big upper hand in games two and three. Don't be afraid to scoop 'em up game one if you are unlikely to win it.
-monowhite is usually better here.
-board out all the 1 cc creatures, at minimum one weapon, most of your creature removal. Board in 4 Enlightened Tutor, 1 Jotun Grunt, 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, Crypts, Relics, whatever you have for GY, Aura of Silence, Pithing Needle, Serenity, all Cataclysms.
(updated 4/23/13)
-Pretty good matchup
-You are (usually) control
-This deck wins by cheating in creatures, swarming, and using card advantage to keep it up almost indefinitely. Both decks use card and board advantage to win. Their trumps are their speed, search, and card advantage. Your strategy is to meet Goblins early offense as well as you can, slow the game down, and eventually take control of the board.
-Your goals are to get a Serra Avenger or Flickerwisp equipped with a Sword of Fire and Ice. Other versions of this scenario involve a flier with any equipment with Mother of Runes active or a Kor Firewalker from the side board. Do not rely on Batterskull! Get the Jitte unless you are up against a wall. Stingscourger will ruin it for you. Use Cataclysm to punish him for overextending.
- The best cards are protection from red creatures, Absolute Law, and your equipment. Bring in extra cheap removal if you have it. Thalia can come out if you have a lot to board in.
(updated 8/13/11, matchup analysis by SwordsToTimeshares)
-Good Matchup
-You are control
Mom, Grunt, and Revoker are extremely important in this matchup. Once they land a Painter's Servant and name blue they now carry an arsenal of CMC-1 Vindicates that work at instant-speed in Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast. Revoker should obviously name Grindstone first the majority of the time and then Sensei's Divining Top. Once he assembles a Goblin Welder and can put a Top in his graveyard with one in play, he can essentially draw an extra card for free every turn by activating the "draw card, put Top on top" ability and responding to that by welding it with the other Top in the GY. This only hastens him getting his combo assembled, so you must still commence beatdown on the quick. The more Moms and Revokers you land, the better. Also, a Grunt in play pretty much shuts down their win condition. (ed. by Finn 5-18-13, removed erroneous text)
-Your best cards are Mother of Runes, Phyrexian Revoker, and Swords to Plowshares.
(Matchup analysis by Jungian Thing 4/22/13) Meet them then Beat Them Esperblade (Stoneblade)
Today, I take a look at Esperblade. Esperblade is Death and Taxes after numerous and costly cosmetic procedures. We are the poor relatives through the Stone Forge Mystic side. It’s Death and Taxes after someone said, “More darling!" Some silicon here, botox there, but it doesn’t matter how much fat is sucked out of it, it will always be a slow, flabby pile of low self-esteem.
The deck uses SFM to get a Batterskull on board with assists from ‘no’ spells made all the more present by b'storming/ shuffling and also disrupting your hand with discard spells.
The deck runs a three colour base; White – for SFM and StP, Black- hand disruption Cabal, Lilliana and Blue - 'storm, ‘no’ and Jace the Mind sculptor.
Strengths
Ultimately, it is a quality pile of individual cards and any one of them left unchecked is a game winner. Comparative to DnT, if they ‘no’ the right card and then get a Batterskull online they are away.
Weaknesses
Mana base, there are only three basic lands in this deck- the rest is bling. To offset this, the deck does run highly efficient spells but nevertheless Underground Sea is such a satisfying Wasteland target that I find I have to pull myself back and think through the other options before sending that couturier land to the GY.
It is actually surprisingly slow, this is a result of both the spread mana base but also the reliance on non-creature spells to carry out much of its gameplan. By slow, I mean it drops threats infrequently and relies on those one or two creatures to clock in a win.
With a quarter of the deck instants, it needs to keep mana open and it can hit topdeck after only a few turns and still have little in the way of board. On the topdeck it can be weak due to mana and simply not drawing a pressure card. It uses the blue spells to overcome this and fetches to continually shuffle the deck.
Strategy
We are control with a perverse pleasure for disrupting mana, especially black boarder expensive mana that was purchased after cashing in a few of daddy's bonds.
Keep the pressure on. You want them to empty their hand, hit top deck and durdle around with squires, preferably while you are keeping them off blue and/or white.
Tactics
Hit the land and hit it hard. Black stops hand disruption (which is important early game), blue- the draw engine & ‘no’ and white- their kill condition (SFM) and StP. I would hit blue hardest simply because the deck almost grinds to a halt without being able to draw and dig. Aven Mindscensor comes in handy here as they run ten fetches!
Try and get a vial to stick but bait beforehand, Revoker or Thalia will often get a ‘no’ so use that to slap down a vial following. Only post board do you need to be aware of FoW, meaning open mana is a good indication of ‘no’. Almost all cards are active against them, this gives us a nice advantage once we hit play-go. Mangara will make them cry, or at least it would if their tearducts hadn’t been removed to give them more shapely eyes.
Revoke – Jace, Lilliana, DRS, SFM and then Batterskull and Jitte. Just with Revoker alone you can bring them down and then you will have no problem providing a sound lesson in piloting a control deck with an equipment package. And no, that’s not a smile, that’s the Botox wearing off.
Flickerwisp also has rich targets, hit the planeswalkers and knock the germ out from under Batterskull.
Post board
You will see abrupt decay, supreme verdict and maybe FoW but you will have Pithing Needle, Leonin Relic Warder, Jitte or SoFaI (preferable) and if you can swing it O-Ring. As I stated above, there are almost no inactive cards, so choosing what to pull out is about your play style and a little bit of shaving.
-Pretty Good Matchup (analysis provided by SwordstoTimeshares, updated 3/7/12)
-You are aggro or control
-You should try to stop their early game acceleration by getting rid of Dryad Arbor or Noble Hierarch. They can take greedy hands now and again because of that acceleration. Getting Light and Shadow can be a big part of winning. They have many activated abilities worth stopping, so you will want 4 Revokers if possible. Qasali Pridemage is a good first target, but Hierarch or Knight also work well to stifle mana acceleration. They will have so many that Revoker becomes crucial, as well as drawing into enough removal. You may want to side in that O-Ring if you have it, but the all-star of the matchup is surely Grunt. Hide him and vial him in if you can if they are playing Punishing Fire. For the most part though, we have enough disruption in our MD lineup that you should be slightly favored.
-Your best cards are your mana disruption, creature removal, Revoker, and Jotun Grunt.
(updated 4/23/13)
-Good matchup
-You are definitely control
-Your goal is to stay alive long enough to begin connecting with a flying creature carrying a weapon. The single best scenario is a Fire and Ice-equipped Serra Avenger. Naturally, this means that Mystics are your best creature. You want to keep his Vial inactive with Revoker even if you have a Vial also. Creature-heavy versions suffer more from Cataclysm. He only ever wins if he gets ahead on tempo. Don't forget this. The guy with the active Vial often wins, but Mystic trumps all.
-Mirran Crusader is not as good as Serra Avenger. This matchup has gotten harder over the years as Merfolk has gotten better in the role of aggro. Don't forget that a single counter from a Jitte will kill a Phantasmal Image (or a Mangara activation - and you don't even have to save Mangara since his ability gets countered). Don't play in fear of Standstill. Bust it right if you are behind. But, you could very well force the opponent to bust it if yo have a Vial or a handful of Wastelands and an empty field. Again, you only lose if you get behind. Keep all your cheap stuff. Side out the expensive spells.
-The best cards for this are mostly in the main - Mystic, Revoker, equipment, removal. But more cheap removal is good. Bring it all in.
updated 10/21/12
-average matchup
-You are tempo all the way. Your best cards are Oblivion Ring, Thalia, Mangara, Karakas, Ethersworn Canonist
(following are the results of testing performed by me playing both sides on 10/21/12)
Game 1: Omniscience Show and Tell - 10, D&T - 6
Not so good, but did any of us expect better? It plays out in a familiar way. They are a bit short on color-producing lands, so you can occasionally run them out of colored mana on a heavy land destruction draw. And mana denial is useful to keep Jace out of the picture in most games anyway, so go for it. Remember that you will always get a freebie when they Show and Tell, so it is okay to run yourself low on mana. Unless they get Omniscience with a blank field on our side, the damage from Ancient Tomb is a factor, so keep the damage coming. You can safely attack with Mother of Runes most times. All they really have is Jace and Pyroclasm for removal. Unlike something like Threshold, this deck has enough search that I would almost never use Judge's Familiar to counter a cantrip. I would counter Burning Wish or Personal Tutor. Thalia is greatly important obviously. She is of particular tactical advantage with Mangara. This was a surprise to me. With Thalia out, you can plop down Mangara off a Show and Tell and wipe the floor with whatever they bring out. They don't have the resources to set up any kind of elaborate plan to do anything about this move either, so it is just about a done deal. I like Mangara here so much that I would even drop him off a blind Show and Tell rather than Revoker. I have found that the one case in which Revoker is better (Griselbrand), Mangara has the potential to be just about as good. If you are holding Swords to Plowshares, Mangara is definitely the right choice over Revoker.
Game 2 and 3: Omniscience Show and Tell - 7, D&T - 18
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-4 Stoneforge Mystic
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Batterskull
-2 Serra Avenger
+3 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Oblivion Ring
+3 Jotun Grunt
+1 Judge's Familiar
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
I did not expect it to be this good. I benefited a lot from playing this matchup once before the testing began because I had a better idea on how to sideboard. I am confident in my choices now. The Revokers are unexpectedly soft as disruption, but can still nip Jace, Petal, or Griselbrand from time to time. Naturally, Oblivion Ring is the single best piece here. You should tutor for it on turn one every single time you can. Also, it is the effectiveness of Jotun Grunts from the sideboard that have convinced me not to bother with Leonin Bola any longer (I changed the Bola to an extra Familiar for these trials). Two hits with a Grunt makes a gigantic difference here, as their life total is always an issue even if they get off a Show and Tell. The only time it is not is if they get a free and clear Omniscience with a Burning Wish or Emrakul, which is death anyway. Do not hold any threats back. You can not hold them off forever, and you can often kill them after they Show and Tell, either by simply having so much board presence or by taking care of their permanent.
(updated 8/19/11, matchup analysis by amoebasinger)
40 games: 30 with Sean Ryan deck (Google “39813 site:starcitygames.com NO RUG”);
10 with Reid Duke deck (40038); including Sideboards
The SS decks (I call them Sea Stompy because it is easier) are similar. The Reid Duke deck has Ancient Grudge in the Side, and also Jace. It can morph into a full control deck versus DnT after sideboard.
SS has several avenues of attack, the Sean Ryan version winning with Natural Order 40% of the time, and regular beatdown 60%. It can win with a last turn Lightning Bolt 10% of the time.
The deck behaves more like a combo deck than anything else, setting up its first three turns with care. It can operate through disruption because it merely prolongs its set up, which is very resilient to DnT. This is why DnT does better when it can also pressure SS while simultaneously disrupting mana supply.
It searches its deck an average MINIMUM of 1.5 times per game. The average, however, is 2.96 times per game. The deck is weakest to a Serra Avenger equipped with Jitte. This scenario kills Noble Hierarch, Dryad Arbor (cutting off Natural Order), Grim Lavamancer, and Vendilion Clique.
SS responds poorly to resolved permanents; Lightning Bolt is the only response to a resolved Permanent mainboard. Sideboard, SS has Terastodon and Grim Lavamancer (and Jace, and 1x Flame Slash in the Reid Duke version).
Force of Will is mostly a late-game card for protection of the winning SS game state, but can be used opportunistically against Aether Vial specifically. Be careful of using Karakas against Vendilion Clique and turning on an otherwise dead FoW when SS has one card in hand.
Jotun Grunt is not useless, hurting Goyf, Grim Lavamancer, and RARELY returning a useful bullet from DnT’s Graveyard to the Library. Also can hit Ancient Grudge.
DnT Strategy
The DnT strategy is very difficult because it can morph between control and racing agro in a single game. SS is weakest when pressured, but it is also weak when its plays are being controlled, especially through mana denial. Mana denial is the main DnT strategy. Kill Noble Hierarch, kill Dryad Arbor; Wasteland is good as the deck runs 2 or 3 Basic Lands total. Rishadan Port is not as good as it is against other decks, because the tempo loss, of DnT not posing any threats, is often devastating long-term for DnT. Even the tempo loss of sacrificing Wasteland can threaten DnT’s ability to put up pressure. “Search hosers,” not often used in DnT, may be useful here because SS is searching its deck very often in comparison to other decks. SS may be typified as a “Tutor Deck.” Because of tempo considerations, I believe a first-turn Aether Vial may be justified, even if DnT has other first-turn plays, because SS has enough card selection in Vendilion Clique, Brainstorm (and in some cases Ponder) that it will find a Mental Misstep anyway for late-turn Aether Vials. So it may be worth it to run Aether Vial out first turn, for the tempo advantage, against the adversary with 3 or 4 mainboard Mental Missteps. Daze is also in the deck, so fearing Mental Misstep may not be worth the risk of holding Aether Vial. Tempo is very useful against SS, and it is the complicating factor on whether DnT assumes a control role or an agro role. The “Protection from Countermagic” which Aether Vial provides to creatures is secondary because SS does not run enough countermagic to really hurt the creature presence in DnT. It is the tempo advantage which really matters here. Pre-sideboard, I recommend cutting off Green mana. Post-sideboard, however, cutting off Red mana becomes more important than it was pre-sideboard. The number of Red sources is at a premium in SS. If Grim Lavamancer, Lightning Bolt, or Ancient Grudge would ruin you, go for the Red mana denial with Wasteland. Killing Taiga is extra good; it is usually a one-of.
It is almost impossible for SS to win through a resolved Ensnaring Bridge. Trygon Predator or Terastodon are the main answers in the deck. Ancient Grudge, however, is in the Reid Duke sideboard. Krosan Grip has not been seen in any lists. If SS has won the first game, very special attention MUST be given to time, because a resolved Ensnaring Bridge can send the game close to forty turns, even though DnT has the advantage. Any snailing must be reported to a judge immediately, and DnT must play its turns very briskly.
Mangara is weak, usually being a Turn 4 Stone Rain. It can’t target SS’s main threat, and is too late to help much in the mana denial. Karakas is often best left untapped versus possible Vendilion Clique surprises.
DnT has these win percentages versus Sean Ryan deck: 30% pre-sideboard; 60% post-sideboard; 50% versus a Terastodon sideboarded in; 50% versus Vendilion Clique and/or Jace sideboarded in. Total win percentage versus Sean Ryan deck was 60%. The deck wins significantly less often with Natural Order after sideboarding, preferring to go beat-down, and also because of Ensnaring Bridge.
************************************************
The Reid Duke deck runs Ponder, and has a much higher tendency to win with Natural Order. It wins with Goyf beatdown 33% of the time, and with Natural Order 66% of the time.
A first turn Ponder is PROBABLY a sign of a weak opening hand. A fetchland, an EOT Brainstorm, or a Noble Hierarch are probably stronger plays. Of course, there are exceptions, and the Ponder may correct the opening weakness. The Reid Duke deck searches its deck more frequently. The average number of deck searches per game is 4.4. DnT has these win percentages versus Reid Duke deck: 60% pre-sideboard; 20% post-sideboard.
(updated 8/1/12)
-average matchup
-You are control
-Your goals are to disrupt that grave yard, plain and simple. In game 1, you are occasionally in good shape if you have just 1 Jotun Grunt recycling his grave yard. The Lion's Eye Diamond variant is a bit easier in this case, as it tends to have fewer options once you remove all the dredgers from his yard, and there are fewer blockers. But I prefer to face the non-LED version because you can use Relics instead of Crypts due to their decreased speed. Equipment can be important to race with if he got a slow start. Flickerwisp removes zombies permanently. Mana denial is more important than you may think. You are not necessarily dead without grave yard hate. Games 2 and 3 give you many more chances to take control. And you are usually in a good position to capitalize on it quickly. Remember to bring in Gut Shot from the side board if you have them to off your dudes and take out Bridges.
-The best cards are the grave yard hate package including the tutors.
(matchup analysis provided by Barbed Blightning, updated 3/8/12)
-average matchup.
-You are definitely control
-Burn's all about putting you down fast and easy. Lightning bolts abound, but the real problems for us are sulfuric vortex and grim lavamancer. Revoker the latter, dispose of the former at any cost. Our job here is to slow them down from their turn 4 win. Some builds now favor Hellspark Elemental and barbarian ring. Grunt takes care of them both with ease. Life gain is the key here--make sure you stay above 8 life. Double fireblast is possible here. Watch your lands. Price of progress can still hurt us. Jitte should be the first thing you fetch. Sofi's tempting, but Umezawa gives us far too many options, and the gain 2 will always save you
-your best cards are mother of runes, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Jotun Grunt Jitte and Sword of Light/Shadow and Fire/Ice
-sideboard options: Circle of protection: red is the best option due to its versatility. Aegis of honor and warmth are also options, but narrower.[I like Kor Firewalker - Finn]
(updated 3/3/11)
-average matchup
-You are definitely control
-Your goals are to neutralize his ability to attack you while you get a creature to connect with a weapon. This commonly involves some combination of Mother of Runes to protect the creature as you arm it. If you can get a sword equipped with a decent life total, you have a really good shot at victory. Sword of Light//Shadow on a Serra Avenger is the best scenario, but all the weapons come in handy from time to time. The matchup is hard to nail down. A single Jotun Grunt is a great way to buy time. But two Grunts early on usually results in a dead card. Mangara is occasionally a fantastic game breaker, but is equally as often just an expensive lightning rod. Flickerwisp sometimes 2-1's with Mystic or Oblivion Ring and then seals the deal with unblockable damage, but occasionally just untaps something and dies to a Lavamancer. Wastelands and Ports can deny him a critical color (I always like green best here), but if Zoo gets mana flooded, all you did was delay yourself. This is why I recommend sticking to the equipment focus. It is more consistent, although with monowhite about 40-50% of my wins are the direct result of mana denial. Kitchen Finks is a card that can buy you some time and perhaps card advantage. It is specifically for this matchup, and works nicely with Cataclysm and Flickerwisp. Lots of cheap removal is absolutely critical here. Don't mess around with 1 land hands even if you have a Vial. You can not afford to miss a land drop early on.
-Green splash - apparently can be either easier or harder than monowhite depending on the build. Tarmos are great. Pridemages and Knights are not.
-The best cards are removal, Grunts, and all the equipment and especially Mother of Runes. In my recent testing matches I went 12-9 against Zoo.
(analysis provided by Barbed Blightning, updated 3/8/12)
-below average to poor matchup
-you are control
-TES is hard to identify, as its first turn (unless they're winning on it) looks like other combo decks, like LED Dredge or ANT. Regardless, your best path to victory is mom turn one and thalia turn two. Other than that, it's a lot of prayer and good luck. Waste them out whenever possible after thalia hits and always, ALWAYS keep her alive. Karakas/Vial at 2 helps significantly. Their strategy is going to be to remove thalia for a turn with silent departure/echoing truth and storm off. Beware infernal tutor/lion's eye diamond--they'll crack the LED to have 3-9 mana of whatever color and a demonic tutor on the stack. Revoking LED should be top priority after Thalia. Remember that they only have three real wincons--tendrils of agony, empty the warrens, and grapeshot.
-your best cards are Thalia, revoker and mother of runes.
-Sideboard options: Ethersworn canonist is a must-have. Other options, in descending order of usefulness: stony silence, rule of law, leyline of sanctity.
[10/4/12 - With the addition of Thalia and Judge's Familiar, this matchup has really gone into modest positive territory. If you are on the play game 2 and your opening 7 has any of Canonist, Thalia or Enlightened Tutor, you are in pretty good shape. If you also have a Familiar to basically guarantee you make it to turn 2, you are in great shape. -Finn]
(analysis provided by Lorgalis, updated 3/7/12)
Matchup: Our worst one. I must say that Thalia or not it is still abysmal in their favor. Yes, Thalia and Revoker are good cards to fight storm decks and may help you to snag even some 1-st game wins. However, storm will evolve as always and the good pilots won't be impressed by a lone hatebear. The way I see it, if Thalia continues on the rise (it sees play in Maverick too, and Maverick is very popular ATM) storm pilots will go either for TES (the deck with the highest 1st-2nd turn win percentage) or DDFT (slower and much harder to pilot, but it can win through literally anything if properly built).
We are: Control (they're faster than us) but we still have to be quick.
Explanation:
- Game 1 there's not much we can do unless pray to have 1+ hate bears (Revoker must always name lion's Eye Diamond, except against DDFt where you can name Sensei's Divining Top) and get a win. The mana denial plan doesn't really work against them as they have so much fast mana. Also, they don't care about board state (which we excel at controlling), so things are bad for us.
- Sideboard: Remove the Mangara+Flickerwisp package (that's too slow to matter) plus some of the StP; don't side out Mom (hatebear protection) nor Grunt (it beats face and as a cute bonus disrupts Cabal Ritual/Ill-Gotten Gains). Side in all the hate you have, preferably creature-based (see below).
- Game 2, the ideal plan is to stick a 1st turn Mom followed by a turn 2 hatebear. The hatebears preferred, in order of importance: Canonist (they can't win with this on the table), Thalia (they can still win but need a buttload of fast mana) and Revoker (just buys you some time in case they don't have rituals). 1st turn E-Tutor for hatebear and landing it on 2nd turn is acceptable too, as we're assuming we're on the play. In any case, it is very important to keep in mind that this matchup is only winnable when we have disruption + pressure --> hatebears are the only way to win. Thus, Thalia >>>>>> Thorn of Amethyst and Revoker >>>>>> Null Rod. Also, creautre hate can be protected by Mom. Keep in mind that given enough time, the storm deck will find the answers to our hate and simply win the match. Also, if their deck doesn't rely on Ad Nauseam (TES and DDFT) they can win out of nowhere (1 or 2 life left), so we better put them pressure.
[10/4/12 - With the addition of Thalia and Judge's Familiar, this matchup has really gone into modest positive territory. If you are on the play game 2 and your opening 7 has any of Canonist, Thalia or Enlightened Tutor, you are in pretty good shape. If you also have a Familiar to basically guarantee you make it to turn 2, you are in great shape. -Finn]
(Analysis by Jungian Thing; Placed here by default)
As with all spike decks, this is a boring (but god how its proponents love it…) group of cards geared toward a three-card combo. That said, hats off to the team that put it together, it really is elegant. It is, as my LCS Spike pronounced, a turn one killer but it is also a little glass canony and needs to be mulliganed fairly regularly to get going.
Key play
The core combo is:
Mana permanent – Land or Chrome Mox or Lotus Petal (Stack 0)
Stack 1 – Dark Ritual
Stack 2 – Entomb, hitting Griselbrand
Stack 3 – Shallow Grave or Goryo’s Vengeance, placing Griselbrand into play. This is effectively GG right here…
Stack 4 – Use GB’s activated ability paying seven life and drawing seven cards (may need to do this twice), what look for the pieces to repeat stacks 1-3, this time putting into play Emrakul.
Once Emrakul is in play swing with both for 22 points of damage.
In the unlikely event that all the combo pieces are not present in the 14 cards drawn simply play Children of Korlis and start all over again. Failing that, discard at the end of turn and still have seven cards and a GY full of goodies to hit next turn. This is its strength, there is no “all in” dump of the hand usual in other combos.
The alt win condition is Tendrils of Agony and this can go some or all of the way to either kill or allow another go at Grisel’s activated ability. Tendrils is a debated, card consensus is a one-of but some builds may drop it altogether.
The glass canon comes about if there is no Dark Ritual or Entomb in the opening hand but both ponder and brainstorm can assist with this into turn two. In addition, it uses an array of hand disruption to assist in its own sending card to the GY or sending your hate to yours. A good Tin Fins player will Probe before going off and then cabal or thoughtsieze which will increase the probability of a pass.
Weakness
Its main weakness is its use of the graveyard and its multiple spells per turn both can be punished by D&T.
It is also all in on Griselbrand with two obvious weakspots, 1) it hits the GY and we have ways of making this unprofitable, 2) the deck requires its activated ability to combo off into Emrakul.
Strategy – We are control disrupting the stack and activated ability of GB. Tax is almost irrelevant due to the low combo off cost and aggro won’t work as it is simply too slow.
Tactics
On the play
There isn’t much that can hit the deck on the play if it has the cards to go off. I can nominate two contenders post board Mindbreak Trap and Leyline of the Void.
On game one you simply need to win the dice roll or hope for the best. Chances are you are going to discard the cards you really needed. If you are on the play Judge’s Familiar is about the only thing you can play turn one. Use it to hit Stack 3 as this is the most likely to be the last of their mana.
The subsequent turns are Thalia, Revoker on GB and then whatever your coup de grace is.
Post Board board out StP and Mangara.
Dropping a Leyline of the Void will shut them down completely but to play around this and any other permanent GY hate the deck SBs 3 bounce spells (Echoing Truth and Chain of Vapors).
Or
Mindbreak Trap will work also but hit Stack 3 waiting until they cast Shallow Grave or Goryo’s Vengeance. Hitting Stack 2 will give them more of a chance to combo off again that turn with the right cards. Stack 3 also has the benefit of having GB in the GY which means he can be Surgically Extracted.
Other Responses
In the likely event you are on the play game 2, Relic of Progenitus is worth considering again tapping on stack 3. (And or Tormod's Crypt on stack three.)
(matchup analysis provided by Garand2, updated 8/18/13)
This deck wins by milling itself with undercity informer or ballustrade spy, then using dread return on a win condition. I'll cover the most frequent.
This is a belcherlike deck, extremely quick. We often can't do much about it. If you run mindbreaktrap, use it on the miller, otherwise they'll mill into cabal therapy and potebtially wreck you (specially if they probed you first).
Thalia is mvp, ethersworn canonist often helps. For that you have to live till turn 2.
Post side RIP/relic help a bit, but it's more a matter of "do they win turn one?". Don't side out 1 mana spells, they'll get you around chancellor of tithes.
Allways watch their wincondition game 1. Often they'll get a huge sutured ghoul with the haste giving enchantment. If they didnt cabal therapy your STP you just won. Otherwise you can go to game 2.
Otherwise, they can dread return an angel of glory's rise getting azami+laboratory maniac. Note that stp won't save you here, they'll just tap the second wizard in response. Revoker on azami only gives you one turn to find a solution. This is probably their best possible wincon.
Remember they might draw intobtheur wincondition, in which case they need LED or end of turn discard to get it in the yard. I ince relic of progenitus their dread return this way, winning the game.
(matchups analysis provided by SwordstoTimeshares, updated 3/7/12)
-Average Matchup
-You are probably aggro, but occasionally control depending on situation
Your goal here is to not overextend into a Pernicious Deed or Revoke it. Though they use their graveyard heavily, they don't have to rely on it and, because of Deed, Pridemage, Pulse, etc. is it not worth siding in Wheel. It's hard to land screw them since they have many basics and Veteran Explorer nets them every color they need by Turn 2. If you aren't low on lands yourself, Plowshare it to deny them accelerated resources. Otherwise, the effect can sometimes help you as much as them. These will be grindy matches, like Zoo. Sometimes it won't work out for you. Flickerwisp can be invaluable at saving your pieces or destroying their tokens. Grunt is also a must for this matchup, since it is a much more reliable piece of hate if you get a Light and Shadow going. Don't count on mana denial, but do try to get rid of Phyrexian Tower since it gives them a sac outlets and prevents exile effects. Revoker should be naming Deed, but subsequent ones can go after Top, Recurring Nightmare/Birthing Pod or Pridemage/Elder.
-Your best cards are Revoker, Grunt, Flickerwisp, and exile removal.
(updated 3/5/13)
-poor matchup
-Your role changes. I start out as control.
-Well, you have to handle Deathrite Shaman. It hurts early because of the mana it provides. It hurts late because it can kill you. Revokers, Swords to Plowshares, Rest in Peace, and any additional hate you bring in are all fine cards to spend on it. Don't be shy about it, though I will not plow a Shaman that is already revoked unless there is some specific reason to. Engineered Plague is a problem. They will probably call human. You do not have a great answer for it. Oblivion Ring can be Decayed with disasterous results. Nothing you have is a sure thing, but card advantage is a big deal in this matchup. Stoneforge Mystic is strong. Don't take any chances with getting it Hymned from your hand - cast it turn two unless you also have Thalia in hand or some other way to guarantee he can't Hymn you yet.
-Bring in Jotun Grunt, extra removal, Rest in Peace from the sideboard.
Quote from SwordstoTimeshares »
Even when you have Rest in Peace online, you have to acutely aware of which cards you should be allowing your Jund opponent to take. Their entire deck idea is based around swapping cards vs. any deck, whether on the board or the hand. Unless you stick a Mom, your first couple of creatures will prob die. This is maybe one match I like to lead with Mystic over Thalia. At least with Mystic, you are gaining a card. So Mystic should not get Hymned, if you can help it.
They seem to run a healthy landbase for the most part, attributed only because of Deathrite Shaman. So in game 1, once I recognize I'm facing Jund, I'm not using Wasteland for any early game mana denial, saving it for Grove. I just go full aggro and creature removal, to force them to go for the board control over the hand control. They know just as well as you that an unchecked Mom or Mystic-into-Batterskull may spell game over. Make them stop you instead of the other way round.
(Updated 4/25/13 by Swords to Timeshares)
-Hard matchup
-You are assuredly control
-Your goal is to live long enough to get an active Jitte doing its thing. Bonus points if equipped to Mirran Crusader, as they have no defense for the attack, and can't pull Wirewood Symbiote block/bounce shenanigans. The problem with Elves is that it's part-storm, part-swarm-aggro, part-"I win"-single-spell-combo, easily possible to catch our fair, white deck off-guard if we are defending against the wrong plan.
It is possible for Elves to win on turn 2. Ethersworn Canonist stops an Elfball win off of Glimpse of Nature, and Aven Mindcensor/Grafdigger's Cage stops Natural Order-into-a-Craterhoof Behemoth, their most consistent win-condition. A common tactic is for Elves to sideboard in Progenitus, which we have no commonly used sideboard cards to deal with, so stopping the library search is critical. On the whole, Mindcensor is the card we have with the most overall value, since it also flies over their ground-crew. This is not a "must-respond" threat to them though, as sometimes your Elves opponent will just draw the cards needed to create a combo and win, so having some form of "storm" protection in Canonist or Mindbreak Trap helps.
Heritage Druid must be stopped at all costs, so Revoker it first. A solid player can still work around this with Birchlore Rangers, so try to make sure you side in as much removal as possible. Wirewood Symbiote is also a fine choice to name with Revoker, situation depending, as it can hold back even a Jitte with its ability used on an Elf blocker. It also generates repeatable extra draws with Elvish Visionary, which is, again, why library search tax is great but not insurmountable.
Once you get a Jitte with counters on it, it is usually a good idea to kill something right away with it, since they use most of their activated abilities on their turns. They have Abrupt Decay and tutor-able effects like Viridian Shaman to deal with Jitte, Revoker, Cage, and Canonist, so extras are always great. The 2nd Jitte out of the board wins games, and also increases the chance you have one in your opening hand, enabling hardcast on turn 2. If you are met with this favorable situation, it could be correct to swing in with an equipped Mother of Runes on turn 3, even if she were to die.
The best extra removal we have is Gut Shot since almost all Elves are 1/1, and it is "free", allowing the tempo swing of taking out an Elf and having a turn one play like Vial or Mom. Speed is the key with this match, creating a situation where Fiend Hunter is preferable to Mangara. Our best cards are Aven Mindcensor, spot removal, Grafdigger's Cage, Ethersworn Canonist, Jitte, Revoker, and Mom
(updated 8/19/11, matchup analysis by Reinvos)
-50/50 Matchup [Yeah, but only if you have three or four Angel's Grace or possibly one or more Sundial of the infinite in your SB. Otherwise it is far worse. -Finn]
-You are aggro/control
The trick is to apply pressure while making sure you have the silver bullet in hand after boarding, Angel's Grace. Game one is very bad for us, we should keep aggressive hands and aim to tie their mana down. There's not much else we can do. Game two you should mulligan to find Angel's Grace. This card stops them. Hive Mind is a blue deck so it can't discard it. The only way for them to win through Angel's Grace is to go off, bait Angel's Grace, pay their upkeep trigger, then play another Pact. This is very awkward for them seeing as they need to mess around with Pact of Negation. This gives you a lot of time to attack for the win. Their alternate win condition is Show and Tell into Emrakul but this is very awkward. Karakas, Mangara of Corondor, Oblivion Ring and Phyrexian Metamorph after boarding just gets rid of it reliably. After boarding, the deck is well equipped to handle both side of the combo, but because of the game one disadvantage and the possibility of them having a fast hand that beats yours, the match-up is around 50/50.
-Your best cards are Angel's Grace, Karakas, Mangara of Corondor and Phyrexian Metamorph. While these are your best cards it's extremely important to apply pressure. Against combo you need the combination of disruption and aggression to win, and Hive Mind is no exception (especially game one!) Game two you can lock them out with a Karakas on the table and an Angel's Grace (or two) in hand. It depends on your starting hand.
(analysis provided by Barbed Blightning, updated 3/8/12)
-poor matchup
-you are control
-this is just a bad, bad matchup. Many of the things said in the TES analysis still applies, but if they don't win turn one, the pilot is playing Belcher wrong. If you somehow luck out, revoke goblin charbelcher and LED. Thalia's a priority. Keep in mind that they can still empty the warrens/grapeshot you for the win as well. Storm hate from the side is still relevant, and remember that they have less removal than TES does.
-your best cards are Thalia, mom and Revoker.
-Sideboard options: Stony silence laughs at belcher, but Ethersworn canonist will win you the game. Canonist is priority, silence them later.
[10/4/12 - Judge's Familiar changes this matchup considerably. If you land Judge's Familiar turn 1, you should be able to make it to turn 2. If you then land Revoker, Canonist, or Thalia, you actually are in decent shape. -Finn]
VI. Mulligans
It has come to my attention that new players are looking for this kind of advice. Mulliaganing with D+T is pretty easy, but I suppose there are a few things to consider. Here is a quickie guide to mulligans with this deck. I will get around to adding some more examples some day.
I like this one because it has lots of disruption (remember this is a control deck) and a possible turn 4 Flickerwisp to put you way out ahead in both tempo and board position. Be mindful of what has happened in the mean time. You may want to flicker your own Vial after ticking it to 3 for the Wisp if there is nothing else to hit. Against an unknown opponent I think I go Vial first whether on the play or draw. You could go the safety method with Judge's Familiar on turn 1 in case the other guy has Belcher, Reanimator, ANT or something like that. But I would play the odds here. Against the other top 100 decks, turn 1 Vial with mana denial is about as good a non-combo opener any deck has in Legacy.
T1: Plains, Vial
T2: Port , Port on upkeep, Vialed -> Familiar for emergencies (Show and Tell, Natural Order, etc)
T3: Wasteland (use it if you can), Vial -> Thalia (on your turn), attack with Familiar, Port on upkeep
If your opponent was unable to do anything amazing amidst your denial up to this point, you have all but won this game. It's not that your board presence is huge, but rather that your topdecks are going to take advantage of it. Be picky about sacrificing the Familar here. Let him have Ponders and Brainstorms unless you happen to know that he has plenty of lands in his hand or something.
This one has a clear line of play for turn 1, but you have options after that. If the first Mother of Runes was handled immediately you can always cast the other if you topdecked Wasteland or used Swors to plowshares or something. Revoker only if you have something to revoke, otherwise Mystic comes next to start the pressure. Mystic -> Batterskull is about 10x better with an active Mother of Runes.
I would keep this one against most opponents, but I would play the Wasteland first simply because the chances of topdecking another Karakas are less than topdecking another colorless mana source. The mana supply is suspect, so if it is against RUG or BUG Delver it is a definite mulligan. They [I]will[/I] Wasteland your Wasteland if they are any good. Beyond that though, this hand is serviceable. You don't have a turn 1 play at all, but you have several strong turn 2 plays. And more strong plays to follow. In most cases Thalia comes down first to provide cover for the rest of your early plays. It has two cards that are uncastable with the lands you started with, but you do already have Mangara and Karakas. There usually is no need to rush into Mangara lock. It will come.
This might look tempting, but if your opponent counters or somehow handles your turn 1 Vial, you have a dead hand. It just is not worth taking the chance. In general, I hate getting two 3 cmc cards in my opening hand. Later on they are great, of course. But not in the opener.
VII. Video Coverage
Some of these links are bound to not work as time goes on. Too bad too, because the early video coverage is hilarious with commentators not understanding the deck.
To anyone just starting to play this deck: learn proper Flickerwisp gameplan. Once you "get" it, you'll realize all the hype is real, whether using it as a clock or as the best insurance policy in Magic, in terms of pure value.
Quote from Ari Lax »
It's just not fair. You just make your opponent not play Magic, then you somehow kill them. They just sit there and say, "Man, none of my cards did anything." And you get to ask them why they didn't build their decks better. I mean, I'm playing creatures with powers and toughness. Your game plan is to get a Sphere of Resistance into play and then just destroy their lands with Wasteland and Mangara. The difference is that your Sphere of Resistance gets to attack them. You want to negate your opponent's strategy, but not like a control deck does, where you are looking to have all of the right answers. Here, you want to have all of the right threats to make their cards effectively do nothing. That's why it's not fair. They don't get to play Magic.
Quote from Lormador »
I'm pretty new to the deck myself, having picked it up in April. Sometimes other players approach me and state their intention to try it out. I always tell them I spent my first 3 months with the deck losing. The deck is hard to play...It's ultimately extremely rewarding, but until the Nirvana of owning the board with a few white creatures, an artifact, and a handful of lands can be reached, a lot of dues need to be paid.
Quote from Medea »
The upside of playing D&T for years is that D&T is a deck thats win percentage scales favorably with experience. Knowing how to put yourself into winning situations and creating opportunities to win despite seemingly impossible odds is something that this deck is great at doing, but knowing how to put yourself in those situations takes ages to perfect.
Quote from (lifted from The Source) Stuart »
Quote from Megadeus »
Flickerwisp is a thing of my nightmares. I can't explain how I lost to it, I just do.
I can't tell you how much this summarizes my D&T experiences.
OK, I want to report on Oust. I feel that I have learned much of the ins and outs of this card. Here are my impressions.
1. You don't want it to be the only removal in your deck. As long as you aso have a full complement of STP you should be fine. The fact that stuff like Mangara, Vialed-in blockers, Oblivion Ring, and our equipment can also act as removal from time to time is an extra gain. The more creatures in your opponent's deck, the better it is. Best against Zoo, Gobs, Merfolk, Elves (did not test this one).
2. The sorcery speediness of the spell: It has not been an issue at all for me when playing it. The only part that sucks is how often it makes a Tarmo 1 bigger, as sorceries are one of the less common cards to pump it. But I have 3 Grunts in my main so even that has not been a major issue.
3. The 2nd from top part: This has been an unexpected benefit, and I might not even prefer the card to put creatures in the graveyard. I do not know if this will be the case with all versions of D+T, but in mine with 8 mana denial lands, I have been getting extra card advantage as my opponent draws the same creature again when what he needs is a land. On about three occasions against Zoo my opponent told me after the game (I asked a lot) that he wanted a fetchland on the top of the deck to shuffle away the creature. Merfolk did not have that chance, but the effect is similar. When they draw the creature again, it is a tempo gain that is actually greater than STP.
4. It has been especially nice against Tombstalkers and I imagine Dreadnoughts as well.
Conclusion: Oust is a legitimate tax. I am likely to include another one in my main, and I may go up to four. I recommend everyone give it a try.
-----------
liamb, I saw that too. Some odd card choices in there, but I like all the messing with Zenith. I wonder why he called it a Horizon deck.
Kudos on this making it into proven. I myself have top8d 4 time with this deck missing only when I faced 2 nightmare matchups in one day( combo and landstill). I will be playing this deck in a few weeks at a large tourney in NY. A report will follow
@Finn: I am an online player. As such i do not have access to rishadan port. Do you think that i should go for the mana denial strategy at all or should i cut the wastelands for mishra's factory?
Last night I piloted a toolbox version of D&T I've been tinkering with for the past two months, to fairly positive results. I geared it towards the metagame I've been posting about, but there was a huge shift. After consistently making top 4 myself, the folks I shut out decided to all build combo or bring a friend with combo. I went 2-1-1, but I feel I should share the results regardless. Anyhow, the list:
The toolbox approach has been discussed before, but I've only ever found 1 cohesive list that posted positive results online. I attempted to have a better game 1 against certain matchups with tutorable answers. Unfortunately, the original decision to include Halo, Caononist, and Pithing Needle/Beetle in the main got the axe for Silver Knights because I wanted better Game 1s against Goblins, Thresh, and Naya. Even more unfortunate is that all of those folks were playing combo this week as a funny joke on me. To be honest, I should have resisted the Pro-Red approach and used the toolbox to its fullest with the above cards. Oh well, lesson learned.
R1: Affinity 2-0
G1: He wins the die roll and empties his hand by turn two as usual. I StP some guys, curse myself for not including a pithing-needle effect in my main. He amasses a decent army again by I get a Top online and pull back-to-back-to-back Flickerwisps off on a Vial. The last wisp really ruined him because I intentionally didn't block his Ornithopter and he sacs everything to Ravager and throws some counters on Thopter for lethal. I activate top, draw Wisp and Vial it in. He's stuck with 2 Cranial Platings and a Blinkmoth. I get there with a Jitte'd Wisp & co.
G2:-4 Mother of Runes, 1 SoLS in comes 2 Path, 2 Tutor, 1 Serenity. I keep an opener with a top and two tutors. He can't play anything I don't have answers for. I establish the Mangara lock and continually remove his attackers after a successful Serenity. Top in play makes sure I can tutor for answers and play them the same turn. Double Avengers get there with no equipment support.
R2: Time Spiral Combo 0-2
G1: I get him to 1 while using 2 ports and 3 Flickerwisps during his upkeep off of Vial. He goes off and doesn't keep track of his storm count /mana pool. This is why I can't stand storm players sometimes. He casts Brain Freeze with 4 visible cards in the grave yard and I ask how many copies there were. He tells me 'I can do it again if you want' and shows me his hand, and yes, he can. Game 2.
G2: -4 StP, In comes Canonist, Halo, and 2 Tutors. Again I'm kicking myself for removing them from the main. I aggressively mull to 5 and can't find a tutor/target. I stick a useless Silver Knight that should have been a canonist and get him to 2 before he goes off. He again doesn't keep track of anything and I ask him for how much and he replies much the same way. I then request to die on my feet like a man to Emrakul and he shows me it and goes off again so he can kill me with it. We have a laugh and then it's off to Round 3.
R3: Lands 1-1 Draw
G1: He establishes board presence quickly and I know I don't want to waste what precious pre-boarded time I have for games 2-3 so I scoop.
G2: -4 StP, -4 Mom, In comes 2 Tutor, 3 Clysm, 1 Wheel, 1 Relic, and 1 Grunt. I get wheel out on him and it stalls him miserably for a few turns. My Top is making up for the fact that he's porting me every turn and I'm stuck on 2 lands. He can't amass his advantage when everything goes back to his library. He kills wheel and I tutor for a Relic EOT. I play a Relic and a Grunt and pass. On my turn I put my own wheel back in my Library and again Tutor EOT for it. I stick the wheel and this game drags on FOREVER. I finally land a clysm and he lands pithing needle for my top. In the end the judge calls time and we're on turns. I have a vial with 2 Counters that I'm waiting to hit 3 so I can get rid of his Ensnaring Bridge with Mangara in my hand, he's still got his port post-Clysm so he's keeping me off lands. He gets another Needle naming my Vial. It's his turn 4 when he passes with himself at 3 life staring down my lone avenger on the field. I can't win unless I draw a Seal or an O-ring. I draw the O-ring and get in there for exactly 3. One hell of a game.
R4: Bye
3 combo players made it to top 4. TES got 1st.
In the future I think there needs to be a mainboard presence of Caononists, Needle-Effects, and Halo. I probably want 1 Chalice in the board as well. I'll keep you guys updated.
Wook, I feel that Kor Firewalker is going to almost always be better than Silver Knight. Also, I think I would always keep 1 Canonist on hand in the deck any time there is an Enlightened Tutor also in the deck.
Lumberjack, there have been a number of players who have played Mishra's Factory online. That seems fine, but I think the best way to go in that case is the green splash with Pridemages and Teegs.
@Finn: I am an online player. As such i do not have access to rishadan port. Do you think that i should go for the mana denial strategy at all or should i cut the wastelands for mishra's factory?
While a pure mana denial strategy is impossible, Wasteland is preferable over Factory. You have so many dudes that you don't often need an "extra body". Wasteland is also key in some match ups you see VERY often like Dredge, ANT, and Zoo. Pick up the Wastelands and try them out. You'll be surprised at how key they are online even without Ports.
While a pure mana denial strategy is impossible, Wasteland is preferable over Factory. You have so many dudes that you don't often need an "extra body". Wasteland is also key in some match ups you see VERY often like Dredge, ANT, and Zoo. Pick up the Wastelands and try them out. You'll be surprised at how key they are online even without Ports.
thats assuming he can shell out the 30 bucks per wasteland.
I personally feel that on MTGO, while Wasteland is a nice card to have, that things like Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter can make decent substitutes for those of us who do not have the cash flow to pay out what it costs to purchase the 30+ dollar wasteland.
I am fortunate that I managed to get my Wastelands for Paper when they were like 15 bucks each. But alas they have always been up around 30 bucks online.
EDIT: Oh and mad props on this deck finally making it to Proven
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -- Varsuvius, Order of the Stick
Last night I piloted a toolbox version of D&T I've been tinkering with for the past two months, to fairly positive results. I geared it towards the metagame I've been posting about, but there was a huge shift. After consistently making top 4 myself, the folks I shut out decided to all build combo or bring a friend with combo. I went 2-1-1, but I feel I should share the results regardless. Anyhow, the list:
The toolbox approach has been discussed before, but I've only ever found 1 cohesive list that posted positive results online. I attempted to have a better game 1 against certain matchups with tutorable answers. Unfortunately, the original decision to include Halo, Caononist, and Pithing Needle/Beetle in the main got the axe for Silver Knights because I wanted better Game 1s against Goblins, Thresh, and Naya. Even more unfortunate is that all of those folks were playing combo this week as a funny joke on me. To be honest, I should have resisted the Pro-Red approach and used the toolbox to its fullest with the above cards. Oh well, lesson learned.
R1: Affinity 2-0
G1: He wins the die roll and empties his hand by turn two as usual. I StP some guys, curse myself for not including a pithing-needle effect in my main. He amasses a decent army again by I get a Top online and pull back-to-back-to-back Flickerwisps off on a Vial. The last wisp really ruined him because I intentionally didn't block his Ornithopter and he sacs everything to Ravager and throws some counters on Thopter for lethal. I activate top, draw Wisp and Vial it in. He's stuck with 2 Cranial Platings and a Blinkmoth. I get there with a Jitte'd Wisp & co.
G2:-4 Mother of Runes, 1 SoLS in comes 2 Path, 2 Tutor, 1 Serenity. I keep an opener with a top and two tutors. He can't play anything I don't have answers for. I establish the Mangara lock and continually remove his attackers after a successful Serenity. Top in play makes sure I can tutor for answers and play them the same turn. Double Avengers get there with no equipment support.
R2: Time Spiral Combo 0-2
G1: I get him to 1 while using 2 ports and 3 Flickerwisps during his upkeep off of Vial. He goes off and doesn't keep track of his storm count /mana pool. This is why I can't stand storm players sometimes. He casts Brain Freeze with 4 visible cards in the grave yard and I ask how many copies there were. He tells me 'I can do it again if you want' and shows me his hand, and yes, he can. Game 2.
G2: -4 StP, In comes Canonist, Halo, and 2 Tutors. Again I'm kicking myself for removing them from the main. I aggressively mull to 5 and can't find a tutor/target. I stick a useless Silver Knight that should have been a canonist and get him to 2 before he goes off. He again doesn't keep track of anything and I ask him for how much and he replies much the same way. I then request to die on my feet like a man to Emrakul and he shows me it and goes off again so he can kill me with it. We have a laugh and then it's off to Round 3.
R3: Lands 1-1 Draw
G1: He establishes board presence quickly and I know I don't want to waste what precious pre-boarded time I have for games 2-3 so I scoop.
G2: -4 StP, -4 Mom, In comes 2 Tutor, 3 Clysm, 1 Wheel, 1 Relic, and 1 Grunt. I get wheel out on him and it stalls him miserably for a few turns. My Top is making up for the fact that he's porting me every turn and I'm stuck on 2 lands. He can't amass his advantage when everything goes back to his library. He kills wheel and I tutor for a Relic EOT. I play a Relic and a Grunt and pass. On my turn I put my own wheel back in my Library and again Tutor EOT for it. I stick the wheel and this game drags on FOREVER. I finally land a clysm and he lands pithing needle for my top. In the end the judge calls time and we're on turns. I have a vial with 2 Counters that I'm waiting to hit 3 so I can get rid of his Ensnaring Bridge with Mangara in my hand, he's still got his port post-Clysm so he's keeping me off lands. He gets another Needle naming my Vial. It's his turn 4 when he passes with himself at 3 life staring down my lone avenger on the field. I can't win unless I draw a Seal or an O-ring. I draw the O-ring and get in there for exactly 3. One hell of a game.
R4: Bye
3 combo players made it to top 4. TES got 1st.
In the future I think there needs to be a mainboard presence of Caononists, Needle-Effects, and Halo. I probably want 1 Chalice in the board as well. I'll keep you guys updated.
Thanks all.
Cheers!
For the Time Spiral match, Wheel of Sun and Moon could have helped too, assuming you can find space for it. Just play it and target yourself, and it forces them to either bounce it or Stroke/Zenith you for your whole library.
Also, congrats to Finn. This deck has long deserved to be here in my opinion.
Hmm I play with Spiral Tide too and I can say that it's a horrendous matchup... I actually always go for the Zenith kill in my games with this deck because with the Spirals, it's fairly easy to go 60+ mana... I don't think the Wheel will be much help... The best things for that matchup is of course Ethersworn Canonist, and to some extent, Leonin Arbiter to prevent Merchant Scroll and Intuition... Just some thoughts on the matchup...
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Vintage Workshops
Legacy:
Death and Taxes
EDH: Arcum DagssonMake Paradox Engine Great Again!
Urza, Lord High Artificer
thats assuming he can shell out the 30 bucks per wasteland.
I personally feel that on MTGO, while Wasteland is a nice card to have, that things like Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter can make decent substitutes for those of us who do not have the cash flow to pay out what it costs to purchase the 30+ dollar wasteland.
I am fortunate that I managed to get my Wastelands for Paper when they were like 15 bucks each. But alas they have always been up around 30 bucks online.
EDIT: Oh and mad props on this deck finally making it to Proven
I ran Ghost Quarter in tournaments while I was saving up for Wastelands. I went 3-1 in two separate tournaments using it as a substitution. It's adequate, but not great. I would recommend it over Tectonic Edge though. There aren't many decks that will be phased because you get rid of their fourth land. Most decks will shrug that off.
@aznchaos: S&T is most likely our best combo matchup. While they do play progenitus as well, their main goto card R1 is by far Emrakul, and we pack tech against him in the form of karakas (Mana accel FTW) and O-ring. As far as varients that use SA as well, We can play revoker naming Sneak attack, forcing them to have to deal with it before they can drop Progenitus/Emrakul.
so then ghost quarter would be the preferred substitute before i drop 100 bucks on a set of watelands? And also i am trying to unbudget the stock exiler deck a ittle bit at a time. Would you say it is more important to get SoFaI and SoLaS first or mom?
Just want to point at this deck (Eli Kassis, 6th place @ SCG Washington DC). It's not stricte D&T archetype but has some of its elements like Mangara+Karakas combo, equip, wastelands. I really like all the tricks here:
- green sun zenith - dig for and put an answer or ramp mana with dryad arbor in t1.
- Quirion Ranger + Birds of Paradise/Knight of the Reliquary/Mother of Runes/Dryad Arbor
Quirion Ranger + Mangara seems not-so-bad too. Congrats on Proven I suppose (though what am I congratulating anyways, a decklist?). Seems like I've only seen D&T with one or two splashed colors place in anything, though.
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Legacy Decks I'm Currently Running:
U Merfolk U UGW NO Bant UGW UGWRB Dredge! UGWRB
Other Legacy Decks I Own:
RGW Zoo! RGW BGW Junk BGW RGWB Aggro Loam RGWB BW Deadguy BW W Death & Taxes (almost!) W GW Green & Taxes GW BGW Junk & Taxes BGW
Personally I am not really that big of a fan of Quirion Ranger. At least not over Scryb Ranger. For one thing Scryb Ranger has Flash, for another it has Flying. And for a third it has Protection from Blue. The only advantage Quirion Ranger has over Scryb Ranger is that it comes down a full turn earlier than Scryb does, but honestly do we really want to be playing this type of effect on turn 1?
As far as the deck's capacity to place top-8 in anything. Yes, I think it is primarily the decks with a green or black splash (or both) within this archetype that are going to be placing. Simply by virtue that they have a wider variety of answers. However that is not to say that the mono-white builds cannot pull out victories. I am sure there are places where the mono-white builds have effectively managed to pull off some wins.
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -- Varsuvius, Order of the Stick
I think the only reason mono-white isn't placing is because not many people play it. Most people are attracted to the raw power of the green splash.
I'd say going green and having more beef makes piloting this a lot easier than mono-white, since you have bigger creatures and having a clock means you will get easier wins against most decks.
The mono-white is focused more on disruption, and playing it correctly is crucial (ie. when to port, when to play the mystic, when to play the grunt). Not that it matters of course, a difficult win is still a win. Just giving reasons why the splash builds seem so popular.
even the splash builds are not completely run on auto pilot. There are a lot of key decisions one has to make at important junctures of the game.
On a side note:
I have found my most difficult match up with any version of this deck to be decks featuring large amounts of Black Edicts. One thing I am thinking of toying around with as a counter to these types of effects is Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard. It will at the very least slow down their strategy somewhat. The thing that bothers me is determining the correct number of these cards to play, especially in a sideboard with Enlightened Tutors.
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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -- Varsuvius, Order of the Stick
so then ghost quarter would be the preferred substitute before i drop 100 bucks on a set of watelands? And also i am trying to unbudget the stock exiler deck a ittle bit at a time. Would you say it is more important to get SoFaI and SoLaS first or mom?
I don't think Leyline of Sanctity helps the combo matchup in any way because they will still be able to AdNaus and get that chain of vapor... They'll just bounce it then play Tendrils... or if you're up against Tes, then they will just go goblins all over you... The same holds true for Runed Halo... What you really need against the combo matchup (ANT and TES) is to prevent them from playing AdNaus...
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Legacy:
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EDH: Arcum DagssonMake Paradox Engine Great Again!
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Personally I am not really that big of a fan of Quirion Ranger. At least not over Scryb Ranger. For one thing Scryb Ranger has Flash, for another it has Flying. And for a third it has Protection from Blue. The only advantage Quirion Ranger has over Scryb Ranger is that it comes down a full turn earlier than Scryb does, but honestly do we really want to be playing this type of effect on turn 1?
I think that playing it turn one is nice only because you have more important things to do on turn two (and have less one-drops than two-drops), but more importantly, I think the cost difference matters because of GSZ, since he only ran 2 anyways and they were probably included more as tutor targets. With GSZ the Scryb costs 3, which is a lot to spend on such an effect, whereas Quirion only costs 2 at that point. The effect seems awesome. Attacking and activating Knight in one turn is brutal, and if you need a ton of mana to play multiple threats, you can tap three land, Knight one away, return one to hand untapping Knight, Knight away another land, tap the two new Knight lands, and replay the land you returned and tap it, turning three land into six if you haven't played a land for the turn yet. Hello Sun Titan! j/k.
The "Ranger" effect is even better with Mangara, though. Since the sacrificing isn't a cost (something this deck already takes advantage of), you can tap Mangara for the effect, then respond with Ranger before passing priority, untap Mangara and tap him again for the effect again without passing priority. Then you can respond again with the usual Karakas trick for the 2-for-0, or if you lack Karakas, still net a 2-for-1 on the whole.
I think the only reason mono-white isn't placing is because not many people play it. Most people are attracted to the raw power of the green splash.
I'd say going green and having more beef makes piloting this a lot easier than mono-white, since you have bigger creatures and having a clock means you will get easier wins against most decks.
The mono-white is focused more on disruption, and playing it correctly is crucial (ie. when to port, when to play the mystic, when to play the grunt). Not that it matters of course, a difficult win is still a win. Just giving reasons why the splash builds seem so popular.
First off, is this claim of more people playing the splash than not supported by any data? The mono-white build has been around for what seems like forever now, whereas the green splash was invented (if I'm not mistaken) by Lewis Laskin earlier this year... he was probably the only one playing it that day and took it to top 8 of a SCG tournament. That said, after his performance the popularity of the green splash certainly did take off, and the black/green splash became played shortly after. But I'm not sure they are more played than the white version, and I know that before the invention of the deck the mono-white build was around, and I'm not sure it was placing all that much.
There is also the question of whether it's placing because more people play it, or if more people play it because it's better. That I do not know. It is possible that it is more popular than the white version, and that this is what causes it to place, and it is possible that it is more popular partly or wholly because it is "easier" to play. But I doubt someone like Laskin would choose a certain deck due to ease of play. And when you look at the Quirion Ranger interactions made possible by the green splash described above, it makes you wonder if the deck is all that easier anyways. Basically, I think you could be right about what you say but I think there are also other possible explanations, and I would be curious to see data supporting the fact that color splashes are now more popular in Taxes than the mono-white. Of course, all of my claims are just supported by SCG tournaments, and I know that other tournaments are out there. I like to go by SCG though because of the ease of accessing information about them (not just the results, but the analysis in the "Too Much Information" articles posted there as well) and because they are very large in attendance and have very good players in attendance at every event.
Lastly, sorry for what looks in this small box like a massive post. Certainly tl;dr territory.
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Legacy Decks I'm Currently Running:
U Merfolk U UGW NO Bant UGW UGWRB Dredge! UGWRB
Other Legacy Decks I Own:
RGW Zoo! RGW BGW Junk BGW RGWB Aggro Loam RGWB BW Deadguy BW W Death & Taxes (almost!) W GW Green & Taxes GW BGW Junk & Taxes BGW
Just so you know, people were playing the green splash long long before Lewis Laskin played it at SCG. I've already been playing it for almost a year, and there are several who've been playing it longer.
Also, the GBW version isn't really DnT anymore. It's a rock deck that fits in Mangara and Karakas.
Also, Quirion does not make it harder to play. When you have it, you just use the tricks. It doesn't make any decisions any harder beyond knowing which things you can untap for a trick. I think the mono-white is harder because you have to juggle so many things - deny their mana with ports, laying disruptive pieces down, and knowing when to switch to aggro to finish them off with a sword. The green splash simply doesn't have many of these decisions since it can just play stuff out. Need to answer something? Qasali pridemage can do the job. Obviously, this is oversimplifying, since as someone said, it's not on autopilot, but this is what I mean when I say the monowhite is harder to pilot.
As for Leyline just being bounce-able, the plan is to lay it down turn 0, and then follow it up with either a Canonist or a Teeg.
http://www.thrabenuniversity.com/
I. Introduction and Decklist
In development since Time Spiral came out, Death and Taxes has become a peculiar kind of control deck. But since it is mostly creatures doing the controlling (with disruption and tricks), it looks like little more than white weenie to the casual observer. The idea is to aggressively land creatures while creating a difficult environment for the opponent's deck to thrive in. "Taxes" refers to this kind of disruption. It never establishes complete control over the game though. The deck wins by delaying or negating elements of the opponent's strategy while its creatures nip at their life total. Games are intricate with many moving parts as Death and Taxes slows the game down to a grind.
Death and Taxes is not especially fast. The control is not particularly powerful. It does not have a killer combo finish. It does not even have any especially broken cards. What it does have is a strategy that dismantles the engines of other decks and the ability to coax them into playing its game, not their own. Against other decks that hope to win with "fair" creatures in aggro or aggro-control style, D+T offers a robust assortment of creatures that modify the rules just enough to keep opponents on their heels. Against "unfair" decks D+T is still formidable, using atypical cards and disruption styles that hit these decks where it hurts most. Really, only a few decks have the upper hand against D&T. Also, it seems that players have a hard time estimating the cumulative effect of the elements D+T brings to the table. You can expect most players who are not intimately familiar with the deck to continue to underestimate it even after seeing what it can do. See the matchups and video sections for details.
To pilot the deck close to its potential you have to have detailed knowledge of both your deck and your opponent's deck. Learning both your deck plus basically every deck you will face is a daunting task, especially in Legacy, but it is the nature of this deck to demand - and reward you for it. To assist all of you with this I will try to keep the matchup section up-to-date with the help of the other contributors.
As you can imagine, there are plenty of creatures that have the potential to see play in a deck as broad as this one. There may be references in this primer to cards that are not in the deck that follows. Feel free to experiment with any disruptive creatures you wish, but the decklists here will be pretty close to ideal for competitive Legacy.
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Karakas
2 Horizon Canopy
9 Plains
4 Mother of Runes
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Flickerwisp
2 Mangara of Corondor
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Æther Vial
1 Sword of Fire and ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Cataclysm
2 Council's Judgment
2 Rest In Peace
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Karakas
8 Plains
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Fiend Hunter
3 Flickerwisp
2 Mangara of Corondor
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Mother of Runes
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Æther Vial
1 Batterskull
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Rest in Peace
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Cursed Totem
1 Meekstone
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Sunlance
1 Serenity
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Karakas
9 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Fiend Hunter
3 Flickerwisp
2 Mangara of Corondor
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Mother of Runes
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Cataclysm
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gut Shot
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Rest in Peace
1 Sunlance
1 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Being a mono-colored deck, it lacks the raw power of some of the many-color decks that you will be facing. But Legacy is perennially overloaded with decks trying to eke out every drop from their lands. This results in unstable manabases that can be ransacked. Death and Taxes arguably has the strongest mana denial suite in the format in part because it gets to use more of its lands to deprive those same greedy decks of their mana. This element alone will win plenty of games.
Ia. Budget Versions
Generally speaking, there is no way to build a budget version of this deck. The deck functions as a unit, and the expensive lands are as much a part of that as any other facet. For example, when you open a game on the play with Rishadan Port --> Aether Vial followed by turn 2 Karakas and then turn 3 Wasteland with Thalia coming in off the Vial, you have created a classic D&T environment. The taxation started on turn 2 (setting your opponent back to their mana supply as it was on turn 1) and became much more intensive on turn 3, putting you several turns out in front. Your opponent has to wait until at least turn 4 to zap Thalia since he is effectively down three mana at this point. By then you have Karakas and Vial untapped. Even if he has the removal, you can just pull Thalia back in your hand and Vial her back out before his removal spell even resolves. He is pinned and being attacked with no immediate way out. There are plenty of variations of this opening, but none of them work unless your lands contribute more than just mana. Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter don't count. Your lands prevent the opponent from getting his deck going while you set up and then disable his ability to easily break free. If you don't have Karakas, don't bother with Mangara. If you don't have Waste and Port, you do not have strong mana denial. At this point, your deck is missing the "Taxes". You are just playing White Weenie. That said, get Port, then Wasteland, then Karakas last.
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II. What makes it special?
This deck makes use of tricks of rules and timing in many common game scenarios. You can use the deck without taking advantage of these timing opportunities, but then you will not be playing the deck optimally. I am going to try to provide something close to an exhaustive list here to help.
Mangara soft lock is a simple, repeatable removal tool. You are going to find that opponents will stop at nothing to rid themselves of Mangara once they understand what he can do. This will almost always be true even if you don't consider him to be your best tool at the moment. Mangara hardcast on turn four with Karakas still untapped is usually a superior play to Mangara on turn three using Karakas for mana.
1. How does the Mangara soft lock work?
You tap him and return him with Karakas or "flicker" him from play with the Flickerwisp while his ability is on the stack. He will remove a permanent from the game and not himself if he is off the battlefield when his ability resolves. Do not tap Mangara and ask "OK?". You have to respond with the unsummon or flicker effect before you ask for a response or a savvy opponent will simply do nothing and you will not get a chance to.
2. If you are removing mana sources, do it on your own turn whenever possible.
3. If you are trying to maximize instead, consider something like this:
-a. block a Nimble Mongoose
-b. tap to remove an attacking Tarmogoyf from the game
-c. use Karakas or Flickerwisp to circumvent Mangara removing himself from the game
1. Vial it in to save Mangara or Grunt from themselves.
2. Hardcast it to "untap" one of your creatures after combat.
3. Vial it in to "Port" an opponent's land on their upkeep or (even better) at your own end of turn step.
4. Hardcast it targeting your own land to make it essentially only cost two mana.
5. Hardcast it to remove a blocker.
6. Vial it in to prevent an opposing creature from attacking for a turn.
7. Vial it in to take out Counterbalance so you can cast a spell.
8. Vial it in to counter a removal spell from your opponent.
9. Vial it in to temporarily remove Standstill.
10. Hardcast it to make a Phyrexian Dreadnought look silly.
11. Hardcast it removing Vial, Chalice, or Engineered Explosives to remove all counters. {snicker}
12. Hardcast it targeting Stoneforge Mystic to get extra equipment.
13. Hardcast it targeting another Flickerwisp to have the other Flickerwisp remove a permanent for the entire next turn.
14. Vial it in to rescue your chump blocker.
15. Hardcast it to switch your Phyrexian Revoker, Oblivion Ring, Runed Halo, or Leonin Relic-Warder from one target to another.
16. Hardcast it to essentially take out a Mox Diamond (or Chrome Mox).
17. Hardcast it to "rebirth" a germ token by targeting an unequipped Batterskull.
18. Vial it in to abuse the hell out of Oblivion Ring, Journey to Nowhere, Leonin Relic-Warder, or similar cards. Here's how:
a. Cast Oblivion Ring.
b. With it's exile trigger on the stack (targeting, say, a Siege-Gang Commander), activate Aether Vial.
stack = 1. exile SGC (O-ring trigger) 2. Vial activation
c. Vial resolves. Vial in the Flickerwisp. Put its ability on the stack targeting your own Oblivion Ring.
stack = 1. exile SGC 2. exile O-ring (wisp trigger)
d. Flickerwisp's ability resolves exiling Oblivion Ring. Oblivion Ring's second ability goes on the stack.
stack = 1. exile SGC 2. return SGC (O-ring trigger)
e. Oblivion Ring's second ability resolves, returning the Siege-Gang Commander to the battlefield, which, of course never left in the first place - so nothing happens.
stack = 1. exile SGC
f. Oblivion Ring's first ability then resolves, exiling Siege-Gang Commander permanently (since the return trigger already resolved).
g. At the beginning of your end step, Flickerwisp's delayed trigger returns Oblivion Ring to the battlefield, exiling another nonland permanent as normal.
1. Like Mangara, Thalia can be returned to your hand simply by tapping Karakas at any time.
2. Thalia has first strike, so she can deal combat damage and be returned to hand before receiving damage. With a Sword of Fire and Ice that means that she can inflict up to six points of damage and not take damage in return.
3. If she is carrying a Jitte, she can deal combat damage, get counters on the Jitte, and use them before any other creatures deal damage. She could use the counters to buff her defense before that attacker deals damage or deal additional damage to kill the attacker before it deals its damage back to her. She can even use the counters to kill a different attacker before it deals its damage. Or you can gain four life before taking combat damage to your life total, which is a weakness of Jitte used with other creatures.
Phyrexian Revoker.
This little guy is a powerhouse. An improved Pithing Needle with an aggressive 2/1 body. Almost every legacy deck has nonland permanents with nifty (or even game-breaking) abilities, and Revoker can turn them off while smashing face. Opponents loathe him once they realize what he does (beyond just turn off stuff), and if he has Mom backup he becomes a serious problem. In fact, in certain matchups I'd say Revoker is our strongest card--more so than Thalia, Mangara or even Swords to Plowshares.
Before we get to his myriad uses, let's first deconstruct what makes this card so versatile.
First, his color--or lack thereof. With the prevalence of Mother of Runes in Maverick decks (as well as out own), Revoker becomes a stellar blocker. If he has a Sword of Light and Shadow attached to him and he's stifling a Qasali Pridemage, we have essentially won against Maverick--on top of gaining the ability to block an 11/11 Knight of the Reliquary all day long. Revoker also sticks around if a Dread of Night, Sulfur Elemental or Virtue's Ruin hits, and trades with [CARD]
Etched Champion[/CARD] (some of these obviously being niche cases but nevertheless uses).
Second, his body: 2/1 means that he loves to attack. Sadly, like many of the creatures in our deck, this also means he hates Forked Bolt or Golgari Charm effects, and dies if he's blocked by anything. However, if you give him a sword, Revoker's a champ, and the +1 power he has over, say, Stoneforge Mystic is what helps you keep your clock spinning.
Lastly, his ability: Revoker's wording, like Mangara of Corondor's, makes him particularly difficult to handle, especially for opponent who like to say "In Response...". Here's the wording as it is printed:
As it enters--not when. There's no triggering, so there's nothing to respond to. That is to say, if an opponent has a Grim Lavamancer, two cards in his or her graveyard and a mountain untapped and you cast Revoker, they cannot burn the Revoker using the Lavamancer's ability.
Similarly, let's say your opponent casts Show and Tell. They choose Griselbrand; you choose Revoker. You can name Griselbrand as both come into play, and they cannot draw seven using Griselbrand's ability.
Revoker also stops mana abilites like Lion's Eye Diamond and Elvish Spirit Guide. This is actually very relevant, and allows us to hit mana denial beyond lands. Again, this is why I argue that Revoker is our most versatile weapon in the deck, right behind Flickerwisp.
Alright, now that we understand Revoker's subtle complexities, let's move onto his application. As I stated earlier, nearly every deck in Legacy has permanents that Revoker can turn off, crippling those decks midly to severely. Here is the beginning of what I hope to be an exhaustive list of Revoker-relevant matchups, sorted by number of targets and the priority of what should be "revoked."
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GWx Maverick
Start with Qasali Pridemage if you're blindly revoking. QP is that deck's only maindeck artifact hate. However, like all of our matchups, you need to study what you opponent is doing in order to make your best possible plays. Is the Mav pilot stuck on a single forest and 3 Noble Hierarchs or Deathrite Shamans? Cut off his mana supply. Is he clobbering you with unblockable fatties via Mom, or preventing STP with a Sylvan Safekeeper? Revoke them.
Short List:
Qasali Pridemage, Knight of the Reliquary, Noble Hierarch/Deathrite Shaman/Birds of Paradise, Scryb Ranger, Umezawa's Jitte, Mother of Runes, Sylvan Safekeeper, Scavenging Ooze.
UWx Stoneblade
Like Maverick, Stoneblade is another deck with plenty of targets, but you need to weed out which ones are priority. Did they go for the turn-2 SFM-Batterskull, or the turn-5 SFM-Batterskull? Do you have removal, or a means to stop Batterskull from being a problem? If they went for the early Mystic-Skull combo, revoke the Mystic; later, Batterskull. Umezawa's Jitte and (if they run it) a "Sword of X and Y" should also be your targets. Jace the Mind Sculptor is also a problem if not dealt with, and should be revoked to hinder their JMS-ultimate alt-win. With the printing of the stomach-churning True-Name Nemesis, Umezawa's Jitte has become a higher priority target.
Short List:
Stoneforge Mystic, Umezawa's Jitte, Engineered Explosives (only in Esper builds) Batterskull, Jace the Mind Sculptor, other equipment and planeswalkers as needed.
Affinity
All builds of Affinity use Cranial Plating. Tell them to knock it off. Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is also a real jerk, and once you've cut them off that, go for their Arcbound Ravagers Moxen, Springleaf Drums, and basically anything else you see that might be relevant.
Short List:
Cranial Plating, Tezzerret, Agent of Bolas, Arcbound Ravager (less used nowadays), other relevant goodies.
Elves
Only matchup I can think of with too many targets. It's going to be situational and, honestly, this is where having good instincts and lots of experience piloting the deck help. Heritage Druid is okay on a blind revoke, but Priest of Titania/Elvish Archdruid are good to grab after. Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote round up your targets.
Short List: Heritage Druid, Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, Quirion Ranger, Wirewood Symbiote, any of the other mana dweebs they run.
Jund
This matchup is a 7-10 split. Do you choose Deathrite Shaman to cut them off mana stability and utility? Or do you turn off Liliana of the Veil, one of their best trump cards against us? The answer is never going to be an easy one, but air on the side of Liliana first unless they are obviously relying on Deathrite and you lack removal for it.
Short List:
Liliana of the Veil, Deathrite Shaman
Shardless BUG
This one is similar to the Jund matchup, but you have Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the mix. Here Liliana is generally more relied upon, however, due to a lack of removal, with most Shardless decks running four Abrupt Decay and maybe one Maelstrom Pulse. As such, revoke Lilly first (unless, as with the Jund section above, you see them leaning on Deathrite). Jace and Deathrite are your two remaining targets, so choose them wisely. If they're going for Goyf/Tarpit beats, shutdown the shaman to stymie their assault; if they're going for a more Jace-centric win (or just brainstormming for free), make sure you remind them that you like your deck just the way it is. Remember: this deck is all about understanding your opponent's deck and strategy and becoming a foil to that; find a pressure point and strike!
Short List:
Liliana of the Veil, Jace the Mind Sculptor, Deathrite Shaman
UWr Delver
There's only two things Revoker cares about in this matchup: Grim Lavamancer (post-board) and Umezawa's Jitte. Stoneforge is also relevant, but Batterskull isn't a card we typically fear. Jitte is usually their first grab with SFM against us anyway.
Short List:
Grim Lavamancer, Umezawa's Jitte, Stoneforge Mystic.
Death & Taxes
With the recent explosion of popularity and success our deck has been experiencing, naturally we should begin to expect the mirror match more often, especially at Opens and GPs. The mirror is, like all mirrors, awkward; often Revoker on both sides will make both of your decks play dumb. If you manage to get a Revoker out first, look at how they are playing: is it early and they're relying on an Aether Vial? Or are they going more aggro, relying on equipment? Read your opponent as best as you can (they'll be doing the same) and utilize your Revokers as best as you can. Remember: Revoker can also serve as a lightning rod! Revoke something crucial to your opponent if you're holding back a trump like Crusader or Mangara.
Short List (somewhat ordered by relevance):
Aether Vial, Umezawa's Jitte, Mother of Runes, Stoneforge Mystic, Mangara of Corondor, Sword of Fire and Ice
Goblins
Krenko, Mob Boss is your best bet going blind. Beware Goblin Sharpshooter, as he will blow you out. Combined with Skirk Prospector, shooter can wipe out your dudes easily. Siege-Gang Commander is also a problem if not dealt with, and revoking their Aether Vial can choke up their goblin production. Grab Gempalm Incinerator to prevent their best source of removal.
Short List:
Krenko, Mob Boss, Gempalm Incinerator, Goblin Sharpshooter, Siege-Gang Commander, Skirk Prospector.
Fish
Cursecatcher notwithstanding, you're left with Coralhelm Commander and Aether Vial as your targets. Its up to you to decide what is more relevant--the fish player having access to a vial or you.
Short List:
Coralhelm Commander, Aether Vial
NicFit
Depending on the build, there are multiple variants of this deck to prepare against, but all run Pernicious Deed and Liliana of the Veil. Stop them first. Wickerbough Elder is used in non-white variants, QP is white-splashers. Revoke a Sensei's Diving Top early in the game to cut them off from their only means of draw correction. Recurring Nightmare is a late-game target to consider as well.
Short List:
Pernicious Deed, Liliana of the Veil, Sensei's Diving Top, Qasali Pridemage/Wickerbough Elder, Recurring Nightmare.
MiracleTop
Go for their Top first, then their JMS. Otherwise, this deck has literally no other targets.
Short List:
Sensei's Diving Top, Jace the Mind Sculptor
Sneak & Show
Another deck with few targets, but they're much more of a pain to deal with if not shut down: Griselbrand and Sneak Attack. Fortunately, Show & Tell allows us a chance to play revoker for free--and, in my opinion, he should always be your shown and told permanent. You can grab Lotus Petal, but it's a waste of a revoker.
Short List:
Griselbrand, Sneak Attack.
Dredge
Lion's Eye Diamond is your first target. Putrid Imp is good if you want to take away a discard outlet, but it's overkill at that point.
Short List:
Lion's Eye Diamond, Putrid Imp
Storm Combo (TES, ANT)
Go for LED first, then Lotus Petal or Chrome Mox. Shutting down CM off a vial makes me chuckling inside.
Short List:
Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox
MUD
Metalworker, Grim Monolith, Thran Dynamo and Voltaic Key are good to grab to stifle mana production, but beware blowouts from Steel Hellkite. Revoker on Karn Liberated with Ensnaring Bridge in play locks them out of an endgame. Take out Kuldotha Forgemaster or Goblin Welder in combo builds.
Short List:
Metalworker, Grim Monolith, Thran Dynamo, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Karn Liberated, Steel Hellkite, Goblin Welder, Voltaic Key
Zombardment
Goblin Bombardment is bad news, so shut that off first. Next would be either Carrion Feeder or Lilly if they run her.
Short List:
Goblin Bombardment, Carrion Feeder, Liliana of the Veil.
Painter-Stone
Grindstone. Grindstone, Grindstone, Grindstone. Welder and Spellskite are decent targets, but Grindstone is their win con.
Short List:
Grindstone, Welder or Spellskite if necessary.
Deadguy Ale
This will be more about matching his plays than being able to blindly drop a Revoker. Deadguy and D&T are cut from a similar cloth, and have roughly the same development speed. Stoneforge Mystic or Liliana of the Veil are decent blind, but taking out a Sensei's Divining Top, Jitte or Batterskull can be equally useful. This is a matchup where you should have plenty of time to figure out the best way the trip him up.
Short List:
Stoneforge Mystic, Liliana of the Veil, Sensei's Diving Top, Umezawa's Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow, Batterskull.
12 Post
This is a matchup that depends on one question: will you have Mangara active before they have a monster squashing you? Even though Mangara and Wasteland are the all stars, Revoker still has plenty of targets. Candelabra of Tawnos is enemy number one, but Expedition Map and Sensei's Diving Top are equally good. Beware Oblivion Stone from the board.
Short List:
Candelabra of Tawnos, Sensei's Divining Top, Expedition Map, Oblivion Stone
1. You can keep a big beastie from killing you with Children of Korlis and any other creature eqiupped with a Sword of Light and Shadow. Burrenton Forge-Tender can also accomplish this (and does not require you to take the damage first), but only against something red like Progenitus.
2. If you are facing an opponent who has a Life from the Loam engine, you can often get rid of it if you set your Vial to 2 and put a Jotun Grunt onto the battlefield at his end of turn step.
3. Phyrexian Revoker can prevent mana production from nonland cards cards such as Mox Opal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Elvish Archdruid, Noble Hierarch, and even Simian Spirit Guide. It is a surprisingly important detail in this deck.
4. Aether Vial and Stoneforge Mystic have abilities that put cards directly onto the battlefield. When you activate them, the ability goes onto the stack, and you ask if it resolves. Only when and if it resolves do you reveal which card to move to the battlefield. You don't have to put anything onto the battlefield or even have an appropriate card for it in hand. In fact, you can activate these things just to pretend like you do. This can be very important if you are "vialing" Phyrexian Revoker. The opponent does not get to see the Revoker beforehand and (unlike when it is cast) can not respond to what gets revoked - if you do it right.
5. What is the best time to play Stoneforge Mystic? It depends. Against many opponents, your path to victory is an equipped flier. If you have the mana available, go for it. In other cases, you don't want to march it into a counterspell, so bait the counters with something else.
6. How do I "unsummon" or "flicker" a creature carrying a Jitte during combat so that the creature does not take damage, and yet the Jitte gets counters?
You can't (except with Thalia, who has first strike).
7. Know how to play Karakas. If the opponent can kill lands, a lost Port is less of a hassle than Karakas. If you have two, try to get him to waste a card on the first one. Play Plains before Karakas unless you have two legendary lands in the opening hand. If you have only Plains out, and the opponent plays Wasteland, you can use your own Wasteland on it, leaving him no target. Or just hit it while it is tapped. I see opponents using Wasteland on my Ports frequently, especially if I landed a turn 1 Vial. This is always good for us.
8. The creatures in D+T are there to provide disruption and also aggression. So you played a couple of opponents where Flickerwisp was nothing special? It happens. Just don't be hasty and start reworking the deck after only a few matches. They are all going to be mediocre from time to time. Adjust them in the main/sideboard to suit.
9. Deathrite Shaman, Birds of Paradise, and Noble Hierarch can hurt you a lot. Hit them with Swords to Plowshares turn one. Same goes for Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. If you have Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp, either is a very good target.
10. Unlike most control decks, it is the creatures that do the controlling in D&T. You will need to commit several of them to pin down your opponent in almost all cases, so only hold back against board control decks with sweepers.
11. Don't take chances with losing priority. You pass priority by default once you take an action, so when you tap Mangara, use Karakas or Aether Vial immediately (you can tap Mangara and Karakas simultaneously as a short cut once you explain it to your opponent) or announce that you are retaining priority.
12. What is the best time to play Thalia? On your own turn as soon as you can, even if it is with an Aether Vial.
13. Can I use Aether Vial to "Vial in" Thalia in response to an opponent's spell forcing him to pay more? No.
14. If an opponent has Sensei's Divining Top on the battlefield and you want to tap one of his lands during upkeep with Rishadan Port, pay close attention to his activations. Wait to see if he uses the Top on his upkeep. If he wishes to use the Top during his upkeep, he has to do so and then pass priority. So wait to see if he uses it before tapping a land. If he uses it without consulting you, just tap a land after he has finished. If he asks you if you wish to tap one without using his Top first, you should generally decline because he has then lost his opportunity to use the Top as long as you also pass priority back. You can then tap a land during his draw step, after he draws.
15. When do I leave Aether Vial at two counters, and when do I tick it up to three? This is a tough one. The cards in your hand are certainly a good indicator. The board state also is important. Have you established control yet? And the opponent's deck is significant also. Do you fear counterspells that might otherwise be sitting dormant in the opponent's hand? When unsure, I commonly feel safe going to three if I am holding Flickerwisp with nothing terribly important to flicker on the opponent's side. I just flicker the Vial to reset it.
III. Position in the Field
What it is relatively strong against
1. Miracles
2. RUG/Delver
3. ANT/TES
4. all Stoneblade decks including Deathblade
5. Reanimator
6. Sneaky Show and Tell
What it is about even against
1. Maverick
2. Goblins
3. Lands
4. Merfolk
5. OmniShow
6. High Tide
7. Shardless BUG
What it is relatively weak against
1. Elves
2. 12-Post Eldrazi
3. Belcher
4. Punishing Jund
IV. History
This is neither the first nor the most recent competitive deck of my design in Legacy, but it has always been my favorite. It started from an idea that actually predates Legacy by nearly a decade. It goes that if you can continue to cast cheap creatures that your opponent has to deal with, his deck will eventually fall apart. The idea came from noticing how something like Royal Assassin could simply stop an opponent in his tracks. Later it was Goblin Welder and then Meddling Mage. Unlike today, the game used to have very few of these kinds of creatures. Enchantments could occasionally do the same thing, but you can't attack with them. So they are less attractive in terms of design. While radical for its time, it was also awful in all of its early forms. The power of these cards was just too low to make any kind of tournament deck from them. But then something began to change. Slowly at first, only a nudge at a time, but increasingly as the years have rolled on...creatures (and creature removal) have been growing in power relative to other cards. Right around the birth of Legacy in 2004, I found myself fooling around with this idea yet again.
Windborn Muse
Meddling Mage
Rootwater Thief
True Beliver
Mother of Runes
Glowrider
Preacher
These were amongst the cards in something that sat fallow until in 2006 when Mangara of Corondor got printed. Right about that same time, I set about to prove that Aether Vial was broken. It started with me writing an article on the subject. This one, in fact. Well, I was not quite right about Aether Vial. But I realized that I needed a suitable deck to prove my point. Mangara was the perfect place to start.
Mangara's wording is a throwback to an older style. Nevinyrral's Disk and Carrionette are amongst some older cards that get rid of themselves upon resolution (and not as a payment). It makes for some interesting potential. For example, if the opponent pays the 2 to avoid Carrionette's ability, it stays in the graveyard. Also, you can respond to its activation as many times as you have mana for to exile multiple creatures before it resolves or use Tortured Existence to retrieve it with its ability waiting to resolve. Nevinyrral's Disk does not sacrifice itself, so it can be regenerated or otherwise saved from its own ability. Chaos Orb is also like this as are a few others...like Mangara of Corondor.
As soon as Time Spiral got spoiled I saw the strange wording and knew what had to be done. I tried out a few different directions, but the deck was decidedly aggro at the time. There were still too few little guys with strong disruptive power to go full control. I also want to point out that in December 2006 Legacy was still a very young format with only a handful of full-time players. The existing "white weenie" deck at that time, called Angel Stompy was not very good. This was in part due to the fact that there just were not enough people designing and testing decks and also because the white creatures available were not strong compared to other old cards. I was aware of this and hoped that either white or green/white would work simply because there were other strong decks in the other color combinations to compete with.
Here is a simplified timeline:
2006
Tangle Wire (Tax that wanted to be a creature.)
True Believer (One of few bonafide hate bears of the time)
Samurai of the pale Curtain (partial ant-graveyard card, trades with Nimble Mongoose)
Glowrider (Good against most of the stuff Thalia is good against, sorta.)
Isamaru, hound of Konda (A 2/2 for 1 with a nice "you can't kill me" was a great deal at the time.)
Hokori, Dust Drinker (Made for a 1-sided Winter Orb with Karakas, good against Landstill)
~2007
+Stonecloaker (I was testing it as soon as it was spoiled.)
+Umezawa's Jitte (Included to keep D+T from losing to Umezawa's Jitte. Go figure.)
-Hokori, Dust Drinker (The 4 cmc cost was unwieldy and Landstill died.)
-Glowrider (Turned out to be a disaster in a few matchups. )
+Cataclysm (Nuts against most everything that was not blue, and some that were.)
+Oblivion Ring (More powerful removal than the creatures available. So more removal it is.)
-Tangle Wire (How it lasted this long is a mystery.)
~2008
+Jotun Grunt (Became our personal anti-Tarmogoyf tech with lots of side benefits)
-True Believer (Outclassed)
+Flickerwisp (A random stranger suggested I try it. Really.)
-Samurai of the Pale Curtain (Outclassed)
-Cataclysm (Too many larger creatures entering the format.)
~2009
-Isamaru, Hound of Konda (New simplified damage rules removed damage on the stack tricks.)
-Stonecloaker (New simplified damage rules removed damage on the stack tricks.)
-Oblivion Ring(Too slow for accelerating speed of the format. Remains in some sideboards.)
+Stoneforge Mystic (Equipment package made D+T's creatures customizable. Only deck to use the card at the time.)
+Mother of Runes (Consistently equipped creatures made protecting them more important.)
+Enlightened Tutor (Sideboard improvement for the highly varied metagame that was emerging.)
+Wasteland (Overall reduction in cmc of D+T's spells make this possible.)
~2010
+Phyrexian Revoker (Coinciding with Jace, it keeps the deck moving up in power)
-Goldmeadow Harrier and similar 1 mana filler cards. (These were the last underpowered cards to get removed)
~2011
+Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (Super powerful addition finally brings the storm matchup within reach)
~2012
+Rest in Peace (Such powerful graveyard hate that it can be used even against decks with incidental graveyard use)
~2013
Thomas Enevoldsen and Michael Bonde own GP Strasbourg, drawing lots of attention to what had been a sleeper deck. Opponents are far more likely to understand the deck ever since.
Notably, only Aether Vial, Rishadan Port, and Swords to Plowshares have been in every version of this deck since its inception. Every creature has been temporary in some fashion.
([i]in order of increasing difficulty[/i])
*Remember, D&T is a control deck. You win by exploiting the shortcomings of opposing decks. Look for the weak link in the chain!
-Very good matchup
-You are control
-This deck seeks to win by using its resources early and decisively to deal lots of damage while countering or removing whatever defenses opponents can mount. It has some reach with red direct damage and a bit of defense coming in from the side board. You can usually blunt their attack or strangle their mana or both.
-Your goals are to prevent an early Nimble Mongoose or Insectile Abomination from killing you, and make good plays until you inevitably win. If you get some combination of SoFI and Mom preventing his removal from taking out critters, and you are slow rolling, be aware that he might be saving his burn for your head. Keep him off a color. Ports get used on green mana sources. We have lost a decent chunk of game 1 advantage by moving Jotun Grunt to the sideboard, but I have still been winning nearly 3/4 of my game 1's. Sulfur Elemental, Ancient Grudge, and Forked Bolt are all pretty strong against us. So if you do not have Grunts coming in from the side, you could actually lose.
-The best cards are your mana denial, Grunts and removal. Add more if you have it. Also, Rest in Peace.
-Very Good Matchup
-You are control
-This deck seeks to empty its hand with a crushing amount of damage in the early turns. It has very little defense and no plan B. If you can disable the early onslaught you should be able to take control quite easily.
Revoker names Cranial Plating. That card will blow you out. This deck has a tendency to overextend due to its nature, and you can make him pay for it. Their lands are extremely susceptible to our hate, and Mangara online is a path to defeat for them. Keep him off blue to stop all his card-advantage in Thoughtcast and Tezz. Do not side out all your Moms just because the deck is 80-90% artifacts. Some of the new ones will run Dispatch and you may also need a blocker for Master of Etherium. Tezzeret goes off pretty quick so find a way to stop it. In games 2 and 3 you can side in Serenity if you run it in your Tutor package to completely blow them out helplessly. But you can probably still win without it.
-Your best cards are Phyrexian Revoker, Mangara of Corondor, and any artifact hate you side in.
-You are definitely control
-Reanimator wins by getting a powerful creature card into its graveyard and cheating it into play with Reanimate or a similar card. This requires a lot of things to go right for that deck, but they are usually easy to pull off. You can manhandle it from its mana supply to its graveyard to reacting to what is otherwise a game-ending creature.
-Sometimes they will have the nut hand and you will stare down a turn 2 game-ending fatty. Hide Karakas. Do not play it until they waste their Entomb on something they think will be a game ender like Jin Gitaxias, Elesh Norn, or Iona. Do not side out Mom. You can win the game with just her and Serra Avenger stalling the board until you accumulate enough resources to push through or get their creature(s) off the board. Their best card against may be Inkwell Leviathan since it becomes a clock no matter how you deal with it. All of their other good cards D&T has ways around. Also, if a Reanimator pilot uses Animate Dead on any creature card in your graveyard, just Flickerwisp the creature to take it from him. There is no way to manipulate Animate Dead in this way when it is attached to one of his own creatures.
-Your best cards are graveyard hate, search hate, Mom/Avenger, Thalia, removal, and Karakas.
-Good matchup
-You are usually control.
-Your goals are usually to stall them out while you establish board control and defensive barriers. If they do not land a Mystic by Turn 4, I hope you've started beating face. Most of the time they will have one out very soon. They likely will grab Batterskull in Game 1, which we have so many ways to stop. Plowshare the Mystic to keep it at bay until Turn 5. Revoker naming Mystic. Revoker naming Batterskull. Flickerwisp the Germ token. Squeeze their mana and then Mangara it. Whereas we will have 25-27 creatures, they will be at 11-15, including man-lands. They are a slow deck as well but our long-term board plan is far superior. They aren't Landstill - at worst they have 2 Wrath of God, post-board - so Jace is not a game-ender when they play it. Eventually, as long as you played defensively - take early damage instead of blocking and using a single Mom to nullify it and opponent's possible lifegain if you think they even could have removal - your board position should overwhelm theirs.
-Your best cards are Mangara, Revoker, Mom, and Avenger.
The three (four) most important interactions in this matchup (pre-board) are the following.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with Karakas behind her.
Equipment on the board.
Active Aether Vial.
Aven Mindcensor.
In addition, it's very good to keep a 'surprise' in reserve that can deal with a 4/4 Angel token and get past it for a few points of damage, such as a Fiend Hunter, or of course Flickerwisp out of an Aether Vial.
The way Miracles (and I'm usually working with the RIP-Helm variant) is going to win the game is either via that combo, Jace ultimate, or Angel tokens. The direst threat is actually the Angel tokens. Jace usually just brainstorms as much as possible until he's dealt with, and the combo depends on several moving parts, all of which are subject to Thalia taxation, being Revokered, and remaining in play through Flickerwisp. It's not impossible to pull off and is a threat to be aware of, but mostly what one has to deal with is Angel tokens. Even three of them is a problem, most of the time, given that one suffers a series of Terminus spells beforehand.
I'd put my tips against Miracles into this list.
Above all, don't overextend into a Terminus. If at any time Terminus goes down and you don't have another threat, you're lost.
Most of the time, you should aim Port at white mana. Be mindful of priority in various stages of the game against Top.
Try hard to avoid having to hardcast Batterskull. The opponent will try to force this so the equipment can be countered.
Against an active Top with a Vial, fake the tip a few times to absorb an opponent's mana. Once the Vial resolves, if a Revoker comes out there's no more opportunity to do so in response.
Their manabase is fetchland-heavy, and they may also bring Enlightened Tutor. Aven Mindcensor is a very key player.
[10/4/12 - I have found this matchup much better than 50/50 preboard and at least 50/50 postboard. You do not need or want to commit all your threats to the board in case of Terminus. Revoker on Divining Top with Mother of Runes protection is pretty darn strong. That deck wilts in the face of Thalia mixed with any other mana denial. And Mangara lock is at its best here. Just keep an eye on how many threats you are committing. If you lose two creatures to a Terminus two times in game one, you are probably still in good shape. - Finn]
(analysis provided by Garand2, updated 8/18/13)
The dominant BGx deck, packed with tons of card advantage. They quickly get board control, specifically since we can't punish a turn one suspended vision or a cascaded one.
Things to note: their manabase allmost allways runs 0 basics.They are soft to our mana denial, specially to thalia and wasteland. Your goal is to pressure them early and deny them untill you land mirran crusader.
Their only outs to mirran are Liliana, Jace bounce and sometimes a random deed: none of those are convincing, he is clearly MVP.
After sideboard things are pretty hard. They often got golgari charm, ingeneered plague or something of the sort and increase their pernicious deed count. Don't overextend, side out a couple one toughness guys to avoid getting blownout.
Don't keep a sketchy hand cos of vial, it can get decayed/fow'd too often.
Allways be aware of liliana game one, she can even come down turn 2 to wreck you. Games 2 and 3 they'll often side her out cos they have trouble keeping double black and fear phyrexian revoker.
Game 1 hit their black mana and revoke deathrite early if you can. Otherwise revoke liliana. Games 2 and 3 revoke deathrite then jace, or pernicious deed if you expect some from the SB. Try to prevent them from getting to jace mana.
Ethersworn canonist doesn't prevent shardless agent from cascading, but I side them in anyways. Land it right before a vision resolves, giving them a full hand but no chance of using it.
Decks with more mirran crusaders have a much better chance.
Remember cascade means they can't run daze, so don't fear it. They'll often only run FoW's as counters, and sometimes even side those out. Don't waste time playing around it.
If you can keep stp's for goyf, thalia outclasses all their creatures (strix, shardless, deathrite).
-Good matchup
-You are the control
-The deck works similarly to RUG Delver in it's attack axis by applying pressure with both Delver and Tarmogoyf. but its answers to you are much better. Variants of the deck can range from any number of True-Name Nemesis and Tombstalker to Liliana of the Veil. Usually, they will have at least one Liliana. Everything else is fair game. They attempt to get ahead by utilizing mana-denial in the form of wastelands in conjunction with Deathrite Shaman.
-Your gameplan should be either to land 1-2 powerful threats such as Mirran Crusader and Mother of Runes to blunt their removal package of Abrupt Decay and Disfigure and then swing through, preferably with some equipment. Unless you can remove their Deathrite, the mana denial plan is fairly trivial, and as such you should revoke the elf immediately.
-Your best cards against them are Mother of Runes, Jitte/Sword, and Mirran Crusader. If you are able to protect Mirran Crusader from an edict, you can usually win off of him alone. Out of the board, Rest In Peace and Wilt-Leaf Liege are both trumps as they have virtually 0 ways to kill the liege, and it protects you from both Dread of Night and Golgari Charm. Rest in Peace neuters their Deathrite Shamans and goyfs, leaving them with only Delver to battle, which you can usually race/kill easily.
***Keep in mind, one of the worst cards in the matchup is actually Phyrexian Revoker. While it does shut off Deathrite and Lili, it is often simply a pithing needle, as it loses/trades with everything in combat. You are better off with Rest in Peace and removal than Revoker.
[I have found that this deck is overly dependent upon Deathrite Shaman. If you can neutralize it, their mana supply completely falls apart. -Finn]
After playing some games against a straight up "run you over" eldrazi build I was 13-7 preboard (on the play 50% and 11-4 post board (50% on the play), it became very clear that the have some definite "trump hands" against us. Turn 1 chalice, turn 2 mimic and 4/4 endless one, turn three fatty really hurts. However, stoneforge->batterskull is pretty much all I needed to pull the games out.
I would make a couple notes to think about in this match:
1) I found land disruption to be a waste (pun intended) unless they stumble very, very badly. If you hold up on wastelanding and porting and just play creatures you will be suprised how well a linear strategy works.
2)contrary to my first note, in my playtesting killing an eye of ugin is huge. all their sol lands are good, but turn 2-3 with an eye in play usually means the eye "taps" for 4-6 mana. if they have the second copy. fine. it's better than a giant hasty trampler.
3)Batterskull basically wins you the game, the only real thing to watch for is a sandbagged thought-knot seer. Which they basically cant do, because it's one of their heavy hitters and if they're not playing big dudes, they're not winning. My opponent tried holding up TKS a few games to try and catch the equipment. The only game he won doing this he had 2 reality smashers.
4) ratchet bomb is amazing. if this deck sees a lot of play I'd suggest 2 in the board.
This match feels a lot like mono-red sneak attack but with a way better mana.
Edit: I would say that the part that makes us "favored" in this match is our options. Everything in D&T is there for just that reason, it gives us options. Eldrazi may become something different in the future, but for right now it's just so mono-directional that we can out maneuver them regularly. Both decks live off the top, D&T can just continue to layer and grind out value.
-pretty good matchup
-You are aggro while disrupting his control
-Your goals are to prevent his measures from being fully successful while delivering a constant stream of damage. You have enough pertinent disruption in game 1 that you can occasionally squeak through. These games usually come down to who knows his deck (and the opponent's deck) better, so you had better practice it plenty. Game one is all about slowing down his engine until you get either superior board position or Mangara lock. He has outs for Mangara lock, but they are weak. He can Waste his own lands or sacrifice them to Zuran Orb when you target them. Superior board position indicates that you have Ports for his Mazes and he can't make his Factories big enough to matter. Neither of these measures is anything like an absolute for you. In fact, Jotun Grunt is the only thing that can mess with his engine at all, and it is weak. You will have to do things like Ring his Exploration, Flicker his Mox Diamond, Port or even Waste green mana sources (even though he can get them back) to limit his ability to Loam. If you are attacking this whole time, these measures can slow Lands down enough to get it done. Keep in mind that his best answer for your threats is Intuition into Engineered Explosives or something similar. That is a big investment in mana for him, and not a perfect solution anyway. Revoker can completely stop it. Flickerwisp can do the same if his mana is tied up. Even recursion of his explosives is complicated by your various disruption. So keep him on his heels.
Game two, you are in a far stronger position. You can still do all the things you were relying on for game one, but your focus has changed. What you truly want now is to land a good piece of graveyard disruption early on and ride it all the way. Wheel of Sun and Moon on turn two is a huge problem for him and should be your number one tutor target in the early game. Don't be hasty with Cataclysm. Wait until you get the most from it. One more thing; these matches can go very long and you have a big upper hand in games two and three. Don't be afraid to scoop 'em up game one if you are unlikely to win it.
-monowhite is usually better here.
-board out all the 1 cc creatures, at minimum one weapon, most of your creature removal. Board in 4 Enlightened Tutor, 1 Jotun Grunt, 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, Crypts, Relics, whatever you have for GY, Aura of Silence, Pithing Needle, Serenity, all Cataclysms.
-Pretty good matchup
-You are (usually) control
-This deck wins by cheating in creatures, swarming, and using card advantage to keep it up almost indefinitely. Both decks use card and board advantage to win. Their trumps are their speed, search, and card advantage. Your strategy is to meet Goblins early offense as well as you can, slow the game down, and eventually take control of the board.
-Your goals are to get a Serra Avenger or Flickerwisp equipped with a Sword of Fire and Ice. Other versions of this scenario involve a flier with any equipment with Mother of Runes active or a Kor Firewalker from the side board. Do not rely on Batterskull! Get the Jitte unless you are up against a wall. Stingscourger will ruin it for you. Use Cataclysm to punish him for overextending.
- The best cards are protection from red creatures, Absolute Law, and your equipment. Bring in extra cheap removal if you have it. Thalia can come out if you have a lot to board in.
-Good Matchup
-You are control
Mom, Grunt, and Revoker are extremely important in this matchup. Once they land a Painter's Servant and name blue they now carry an arsenal of CMC-1 Vindicates that work at instant-speed in Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast. Revoker should obviously name Grindstone first the majority of the time and then Sensei's Divining Top. Once he assembles a Goblin Welder and can put a Top in his graveyard with one in play, he can essentially draw an extra card for free every turn by activating the "draw card, put Top on top" ability and responding to that by welding it with the other Top in the GY. This only hastens him getting his combo assembled, so you must still commence beatdown on the quick. The more Moms and Revokers you land, the better. Also, a Grunt in play pretty much shuts down their win condition. (ed. by Finn 5-18-13, removed erroneous text)
-Your best cards are Mother of Runes, Phyrexian Revoker, and Swords to Plowshares.
Meet them then Beat Them Esperblade (Stoneblade)
Today, I take a look at Esperblade. Esperblade is Death and Taxes after numerous and costly cosmetic procedures. We are the poor relatives through the Stone Forge Mystic side. It’s Death and Taxes after someone said, “More darling!" Some silicon here, botox there, but it doesn’t matter how much fat is sucked out of it, it will always be a slow, flabby pile of low self-esteem.
The deck uses SFM to get a Batterskull on board with assists from ‘no’ spells made all the more present by b'storming/ shuffling and also disrupting your hand with discard spells.
The deck runs a three colour base; White – for SFM and StP, Black- hand disruption Cabal, Lilliana and Blue - 'storm, ‘no’ and Jace the Mind sculptor.
Strengths
Ultimately, it is a quality pile of individual cards and any one of them left unchecked is a game winner. Comparative to DnT, if they ‘no’ the right card and then get a Batterskull online they are away.
Weaknesses
Mana base, there are only three basic lands in this deck- the rest is bling. To offset this, the deck does run highly efficient spells but nevertheless Underground Sea is such a satisfying Wasteland target that I find I have to pull myself back and think through the other options before sending that couturier land to the GY.
It is actually surprisingly slow, this is a result of both the spread mana base but also the reliance on non-creature spells to carry out much of its gameplan. By slow, I mean it drops threats infrequently and relies on those one or two creatures to clock in a win.
With a quarter of the deck instants, it needs to keep mana open and it can hit topdeck after only a few turns and still have little in the way of board. On the topdeck it can be weak due to mana and simply not drawing a pressure card. It uses the blue spells to overcome this and fetches to continually shuffle the deck.
Strategy
We are control with a perverse pleasure for disrupting mana, especially black boarder expensive mana that was purchased after cashing in a few of daddy's bonds.
Keep the pressure on. You want them to empty their hand, hit top deck and durdle around with squires, preferably while you are keeping them off blue and/or white.
Tactics
Hit the land and hit it hard. Black stops hand disruption (which is important early game), blue- the draw engine & ‘no’ and white- their kill condition (SFM) and StP. I would hit blue hardest simply because the deck almost grinds to a halt without being able to draw and dig. Aven Mindscensor comes in handy here as they run ten fetches!
Try and get a vial to stick but bait beforehand, Revoker or Thalia will often get a ‘no’ so use that to slap down a vial following. Only post board do you need to be aware of FoW, meaning open mana is a good indication of ‘no’. Almost all cards are active against them, this gives us a nice advantage once we hit play-go. Mangara will make them cry, or at least it would if their tearducts hadn’t been removed to give them more shapely eyes.
Revoke – Jace, Lilliana, DRS, SFM and then Batterskull and Jitte. Just with Revoker alone you can bring them down and then you will have no problem providing a sound lesson in piloting a control deck with an equipment package. And no, that’s not a smile, that’s the Botox wearing off.
Flickerwisp also has rich targets, hit the planeswalkers and knock the germ out from under Batterskull.
Post board
You will see abrupt decay, supreme verdict and maybe FoW but you will have Pithing Needle, Leonin Relic Warder, Jitte or SoFaI (preferable) and if you can swing it O-Ring. As I stated above, there are almost no inactive cards, so choosing what to pull out is about your play style and a little bit of shaving.
-You are aggro or control
-You should try to stop their early game acceleration by getting rid of Dryad Arbor or Noble Hierarch. They can take greedy hands now and again because of that acceleration. Getting Light and Shadow can be a big part of winning. They have many activated abilities worth stopping, so you will want 4 Revokers if possible. Qasali Pridemage is a good first target, but Hierarch or Knight also work well to stifle mana acceleration. They will have so many that Revoker becomes crucial, as well as drawing into enough removal. You may want to side in that O-Ring if you have it, but the all-star of the matchup is surely Grunt. Hide him and vial him in if you can if they are playing Punishing Fire. For the most part though, we have enough disruption in our MD lineup that you should be slightly favored.
-Your best cards are your mana disruption, creature removal, Revoker, and Jotun Grunt.
-Good matchup
-You are definitely control
-Your goal is to stay alive long enough to begin connecting with a flying creature carrying a weapon. The single best scenario is a Fire and Ice-equipped Serra Avenger. Naturally, this means that Mystics are your best creature. You want to keep his Vial inactive with Revoker even if you have a Vial also. Creature-heavy versions suffer more from Cataclysm. He only ever wins if he gets ahead on tempo. Don't forget this. The guy with the active Vial often wins, but Mystic trumps all.
-Mirran Crusader is not as good as Serra Avenger. This matchup has gotten harder over the years as Merfolk has gotten better in the role of aggro. Don't forget that a single counter from a Jitte will kill a Phantasmal Image (or a Mangara activation - and you don't even have to save Mangara since his ability gets countered). Don't play in fear of Standstill. Bust it right if you are behind. But, you could very well force the opponent to bust it if yo have a Vial or a handful of Wastelands and an empty field. Again, you only lose if you get behind. Keep all your cheap stuff. Side out the expensive spells.
-The best cards for this are mostly in the main - Mystic, Revoker, equipment, removal. But more cheap removal is good. Bring it all in.
-average matchup
-You are tempo all the way. Your best cards are Oblivion Ring, Thalia, Mangara, Karakas, Ethersworn Canonist
(following are the results of testing performed by me playing both sides on 10/21/12)
Game 1: Omniscience Show and Tell - 10, D&T - 6
Not so good, but did any of us expect better? It plays out in a familiar way. They are a bit short on color-producing lands, so you can occasionally run them out of colored mana on a heavy land destruction draw. And mana denial is useful to keep Jace out of the picture in most games anyway, so go for it. Remember that you will always get a freebie when they Show and Tell, so it is okay to run yourself low on mana. Unless they get Omniscience with a blank field on our side, the damage from Ancient Tomb is a factor, so keep the damage coming. You can safely attack with Mother of Runes most times. All they really have is Jace and Pyroclasm for removal. Unlike something like Threshold, this deck has enough search that I would almost never use Judge's Familiar to counter a cantrip. I would counter Burning Wish or Personal Tutor. Thalia is greatly important obviously. She is of particular tactical advantage with Mangara. This was a surprise to me. With Thalia out, you can plop down Mangara off a Show and Tell and wipe the floor with whatever they bring out. They don't have the resources to set up any kind of elaborate plan to do anything about this move either, so it is just about a done deal. I like Mangara here so much that I would even drop him off a blind Show and Tell rather than Revoker. I have found that the one case in which Revoker is better (Griselbrand), Mangara has the potential to be just about as good. If you are holding Swords to Plowshares, Mangara is definitely the right choice over Revoker.
Game 2 and 3: Omniscience Show and Tell - 7, D&T - 18
-4 Swords to Plowshares
-4 Stoneforge Mystic
-1 Umezawa's Jitte
-1 Batterskull
-2 Serra Avenger
+3 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Oblivion Ring
+3 Jotun Grunt
+1 Judge's Familiar
+2 Phyrexian Revoker
+2 Ethersworn Canonist
I did not expect it to be this good. I benefited a lot from playing this matchup once before the testing began because I had a better idea on how to sideboard. I am confident in my choices now. The Revokers are unexpectedly soft as disruption, but can still nip Jace, Petal, or Griselbrand from time to time. Naturally, Oblivion Ring is the single best piece here. You should tutor for it on turn one every single time you can. Also, it is the effectiveness of Jotun Grunts from the sideboard that have convinced me not to bother with Leonin Bola any longer (I changed the Bola to an extra Familiar for these trials). Two hits with a Grunt makes a gigantic difference here, as their life total is always an issue even if they get off a Show and Tell. The only time it is not is if they get a free and clear Omniscience with a Burning Wish or Emrakul, which is death anyway. Do not hold any threats back. You can not hold them off forever, and you can often kill them after they Show and Tell, either by simply having so much board presence or by taking care of their permanent.
40 games: 30 with Sean Ryan deck (Google “39813 site:starcitygames.com NO RUG”);
10 with Reid Duke deck (40038); including Sideboards
The SS decks (I call them Sea Stompy because it is easier) are similar. The Reid Duke deck has Ancient Grudge in the Side, and also Jace. It can morph into a full control deck versus DnT after sideboard.
SS has several avenues of attack, the Sean Ryan version winning with Natural Order 40% of the time, and regular beatdown 60%. It can win with a last turn Lightning Bolt 10% of the time.
The deck behaves more like a combo deck than anything else, setting up its first three turns with care. It can operate through disruption because it merely prolongs its set up, which is very resilient to DnT. This is why DnT does better when it can also pressure SS while simultaneously disrupting mana supply.
It searches its deck an average MINIMUM of 1.5 times per game. The average, however, is 2.96 times per game. The deck is weakest to a Serra Avenger equipped with Jitte. This scenario kills Noble Hierarch, Dryad Arbor (cutting off Natural Order), Grim Lavamancer, and Vendilion Clique.
SS responds poorly to resolved permanents; Lightning Bolt is the only response to a resolved Permanent mainboard. Sideboard, SS has Terastodon and Grim Lavamancer (and Jace, and 1x Flame Slash in the Reid Duke version).
Force of Will is mostly a late-game card for protection of the winning SS game state, but can be used opportunistically against Aether Vial specifically. Be careful of using Karakas against Vendilion Clique and turning on an otherwise dead FoW when SS has one card in hand.
Jotun Grunt is not useless, hurting Goyf, Grim Lavamancer, and RARELY returning a useful bullet from DnT’s Graveyard to the Library. Also can hit Ancient Grudge.
DnT Strategy
The DnT strategy is very difficult because it can morph between control and racing agro in a single game. SS is weakest when pressured, but it is also weak when its plays are being controlled, especially through mana denial. Mana denial is the main DnT strategy. Kill Noble Hierarch, kill Dryad Arbor; Wasteland is good as the deck runs 2 or 3 Basic Lands total. Rishadan Port is not as good as it is against other decks, because the tempo loss, of DnT not posing any threats, is often devastating long-term for DnT. Even the tempo loss of sacrificing Wasteland can threaten DnT’s ability to put up pressure. “Search hosers,” not often used in DnT, may be useful here because SS is searching its deck very often in comparison to other decks. SS may be typified as a “Tutor Deck.” Because of tempo considerations, I believe a first-turn Aether Vial may be justified, even if DnT has other first-turn plays, because SS has enough card selection in Vendilion Clique, Brainstorm (and in some cases Ponder) that it will find a Mental Misstep anyway for late-turn Aether Vials. So it may be worth it to run Aether Vial out first turn, for the tempo advantage, against the adversary with 3 or 4 mainboard Mental Missteps. Daze is also in the deck, so fearing Mental Misstep may not be worth the risk of holding Aether Vial. Tempo is very useful against SS, and it is the complicating factor on whether DnT assumes a control role or an agro role. The “Protection from Countermagic” which Aether Vial provides to creatures is secondary because SS does not run enough countermagic to really hurt the creature presence in DnT. It is the tempo advantage which really matters here. Pre-sideboard, I recommend cutting off Green mana. Post-sideboard, however, cutting off Red mana becomes more important than it was pre-sideboard. The number of Red sources is at a premium in SS. If Grim Lavamancer, Lightning Bolt, or Ancient Grudge would ruin you, go for the Red mana denial with Wasteland. Killing Taiga is extra good; it is usually a one-of.
It is almost impossible for SS to win through a resolved Ensnaring Bridge. Trygon Predator or Terastodon are the main answers in the deck. Ancient Grudge, however, is in the Reid Duke sideboard. Krosan Grip has not been seen in any lists. If SS has won the first game, very special attention MUST be given to time, because a resolved Ensnaring Bridge can send the game close to forty turns, even though DnT has the advantage. Any snailing must be reported to a judge immediately, and DnT must play its turns very briskly.
Mangara is weak, usually being a Turn 4 Stone Rain. It can’t target SS’s main threat, and is too late to help much in the mana denial. Karakas is often best left untapped versus possible Vendilion Clique surprises.
DnT has these win percentages versus Sean Ryan deck: 30% pre-sideboard; 60% post-sideboard; 50% versus a Terastodon sideboarded in; 50% versus Vendilion Clique and/or Jace sideboarded in. Total win percentage versus Sean Ryan deck was 60%. The deck wins significantly less often with Natural Order after sideboarding, preferring to go beat-down, and also because of Ensnaring Bridge.
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The Reid Duke deck runs Ponder, and has a much higher tendency to win with Natural Order. It wins with Goyf beatdown 33% of the time, and with Natural Order 66% of the time.
A first turn Ponder is PROBABLY a sign of a weak opening hand. A fetchland, an EOT Brainstorm, or a Noble Hierarch are probably stronger plays. Of course, there are exceptions, and the Ponder may correct the opening weakness. The Reid Duke deck searches its deck more frequently. The average number of deck searches per game is 4.4. DnT has these win percentages versus Reid Duke deck: 60% pre-sideboard; 20% post-sideboard.
-average matchup
-You are control
-Your goals are to disrupt that grave yard, plain and simple. In game 1, you are occasionally in good shape if you have just 1 Jotun Grunt recycling his grave yard. The Lion's Eye Diamond variant is a bit easier in this case, as it tends to have fewer options once you remove all the dredgers from his yard, and there are fewer blockers. But I prefer to face the non-LED version because you can use Relics instead of Crypts due to their decreased speed. Equipment can be important to race with if he got a slow start. Flickerwisp removes zombies permanently. Mana denial is more important than you may think. You are not necessarily dead without grave yard hate. Games 2 and 3 give you many more chances to take control. And you are usually in a good position to capitalize on it quickly. Remember to bring in Gut Shot from the side board if you have them to off your dudes and take out Bridges.
-The best cards are the grave yard hate package including the tutors.
-average matchup.
-You are definitely control
-Burn's all about putting you down fast and easy. Lightning bolts abound, but the real problems for us are sulfuric vortex and grim lavamancer. Revoker the latter, dispose of the former at any cost. Our job here is to slow them down from their turn 4 win. Some builds now favor Hellspark Elemental and barbarian ring. Grunt takes care of them both with ease. Life gain is the key here--make sure you stay above 8 life. Double fireblast is possible here. Watch your lands. Price of progress can still hurt us. Jitte should be the first thing you fetch. Sofi's tempting, but Umezawa gives us far too many options, and the gain 2 will always save you
-your best cards are mother of runes, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Jotun Grunt Jitte and Sword of Light/Shadow and Fire/Ice
-sideboard options: Circle of protection: red is the best option due to its versatility. Aegis of honor and warmth are also options, but narrower.[I like Kor Firewalker - Finn]
-average matchup
-You are definitely control
-Your goals are to neutralize his ability to attack you while you get a creature to connect with a weapon. This commonly involves some combination of Mother of Runes to protect the creature as you arm it. If you can get a sword equipped with a decent life total, you have a really good shot at victory. Sword of Light//Shadow on a Serra Avenger is the best scenario, but all the weapons come in handy from time to time. The matchup is hard to nail down. A single Jotun Grunt is a great way to buy time. But two Grunts early on usually results in a dead card. Mangara is occasionally a fantastic game breaker, but is equally as often just an expensive lightning rod. Flickerwisp sometimes 2-1's with Mystic or Oblivion Ring and then seals the deal with unblockable damage, but occasionally just untaps something and dies to a Lavamancer. Wastelands and Ports can deny him a critical color (I always like green best here), but if Zoo gets mana flooded, all you did was delay yourself. This is why I recommend sticking to the equipment focus. It is more consistent, although with monowhite about 40-50% of my wins are the direct result of mana denial. Kitchen Finks is a card that can buy you some time and perhaps card advantage. It is specifically for this matchup, and works nicely with Cataclysm and Flickerwisp. Lots of cheap removal is absolutely critical here. Don't mess around with 1 land hands even if you have a Vial. You can not afford to miss a land drop early on.
-Green splash - apparently can be either easier or harder than monowhite depending on the build. Tarmos are great. Pridemages and Knights are not.
-The best cards are removal, Grunts, and all the equipment and especially Mother of Runes. In my recent testing matches I went 12-9 against Zoo.
-below average to poor matchup
-you are control
-TES is hard to identify, as its first turn (unless they're winning on it) looks like other combo decks, like LED Dredge or ANT. Regardless, your best path to victory is mom turn one and thalia turn two. Other than that, it's a lot of prayer and good luck. Waste them out whenever possible after thalia hits and always, ALWAYS keep her alive. Karakas/Vial at 2 helps significantly. Their strategy is going to be to remove thalia for a turn with silent departure/echoing truth and storm off. Beware infernal tutor/lion's eye diamond--they'll crack the LED to have 3-9 mana of whatever color and a demonic tutor on the stack. Revoking LED should be top priority after Thalia. Remember that they only have three real wincons--tendrils of agony, empty the warrens, and grapeshot.
-your best cards are Thalia, revoker and mother of runes.
-Sideboard options: Ethersworn canonist is a must-have. Other options, in descending order of usefulness: stony silence, rule of law, leyline of sanctity.
[10/4/12 - With the addition of Thalia and Judge's Familiar, this matchup has really gone into modest positive territory. If you are on the play game 2 and your opening 7 has any of Canonist, Thalia or Enlightened Tutor, you are in pretty good shape. If you also have a Familiar to basically guarantee you make it to turn 2, you are in great shape. -Finn]
Matchup: Our worst one. I must say that Thalia or not it is still abysmal in their favor. Yes, Thalia and Revoker are good cards to fight storm decks and may help you to snag even some 1-st game wins. However, storm will evolve as always and the good pilots won't be impressed by a lone hatebear. The way I see it, if Thalia continues on the rise (it sees play in Maverick too, and Maverick is very popular ATM) storm pilots will go either for TES (the deck with the highest 1st-2nd turn win percentage) or DDFT (slower and much harder to pilot, but it can win through literally anything if properly built).
We are: Control (they're faster than us) but we still have to be quick.
Explanation:
- Game 1 there's not much we can do unless pray to have 1+ hate bears (Revoker must always name lion's Eye Diamond, except against DDFt where you can name Sensei's Divining Top) and get a win. The mana denial plan doesn't really work against them as they have so much fast mana. Also, they don't care about board state (which we excel at controlling), so things are bad for us.
- Sideboard: Remove the Mangara+Flickerwisp package (that's too slow to matter) plus some of the StP; don't side out Mom (hatebear protection) nor Grunt (it beats face and as a cute bonus disrupts Cabal Ritual/Ill-Gotten Gains). Side in all the hate you have, preferably creature-based (see below).
- Game 2, the ideal plan is to stick a 1st turn Mom followed by a turn 2 hatebear. The hatebears preferred, in order of importance: Canonist (they can't win with this on the table), Thalia (they can still win but need a buttload of fast mana) and Revoker (just buys you some time in case they don't have rituals). 1st turn E-Tutor for hatebear and landing it on 2nd turn is acceptable too, as we're assuming we're on the play. In any case, it is very important to keep in mind that this matchup is only winnable when we have disruption + pressure --> hatebears are the only way to win. Thus, Thalia >>>>>> Thorn of Amethyst and Revoker >>>>>> Null Rod. Also, creautre hate can be protected by Mom. Keep in mind that given enough time, the storm deck will find the answers to our hate and simply win the match. Also, if their deck doesn't rely on Ad Nauseam (TES and DDFT) they can win out of nowhere (1 or 2 life left), so we better put them pressure.
[10/4/12 - With the addition of Thalia and Judge's Familiar, this matchup has really gone into modest positive territory. If you are on the play game 2 and your opening 7 has any of Canonist, Thalia or Enlightened Tutor, you are in pretty good shape. If you also have a Familiar to basically guarantee you make it to turn 2, you are in great shape. -Finn]
(Analysis by Jungian Thing; Placed here by default)
As with all spike decks, this is a boring (but god how its proponents love it…) group of cards geared toward a three-card combo. That said, hats off to the team that put it together, it really is elegant. It is, as my LCS Spike pronounced, a turn one killer but it is also a little glass canony and needs to be mulliganed fairly regularly to get going.
Key play
The core combo is:
Mana permanent – Land or Chrome Mox or Lotus Petal (Stack 0)
Stack 1 – Dark Ritual
Stack 2 – Entomb, hitting Griselbrand
Stack 3 – Shallow Grave or Goryo’s Vengeance, placing Griselbrand into play. This is effectively GG right here…
Stack 4 – Use GB’s activated ability paying seven life and drawing seven cards (may need to do this twice), what look for the pieces to repeat stacks 1-3, this time putting into play Emrakul.
Once Emrakul is in play swing with both for 22 points of damage.
In the unlikely event that all the combo pieces are not present in the 14 cards drawn simply play Children of Korlis and start all over again. Failing that, discard at the end of turn and still have seven cards and a GY full of goodies to hit next turn. This is its strength, there is no “all in” dump of the hand usual in other combos.
The alt win condition is Tendrils of Agony and this can go some or all of the way to either kill or allow another go at Grisel’s activated ability. Tendrils is a debated, card consensus is a one-of but some builds may drop it altogether.
The glass canon comes about if there is no Dark Ritual or Entomb in the opening hand but both ponder and brainstorm can assist with this into turn two. In addition, it uses an array of hand disruption to assist in its own sending card to the GY or sending your hate to yours. A good Tin Fins player will Probe before going off and then cabal or thoughtsieze which will increase the probability of a pass.
Weakness
Its main weakness is its use of the graveyard and its multiple spells per turn both can be punished by D&T.
It is also all in on Griselbrand with two obvious weakspots, 1) it hits the GY and we have ways of making this unprofitable, 2) the deck requires its activated ability to combo off into Emrakul.
Strategy – We are control disrupting the stack and activated ability of GB. Tax is almost irrelevant due to the low combo off cost and aggro won’t work as it is simply too slow.
Tactics
On the play
There isn’t much that can hit the deck on the play if it has the cards to go off. I can nominate two contenders post board Mindbreak Trap and Leyline of the Void.
On game one you simply need to win the dice roll or hope for the best. Chances are you are going to discard the cards you really needed. If you are on the play Judge’s Familiar is about the only thing you can play turn one. Use it to hit Stack 3 as this is the most likely to be the last of their mana.
The subsequent turns are Thalia, Revoker on GB and then whatever your coup de grace is.
Post Board board out StP and Mangara.
Dropping a Leyline of the Void will shut them down completely but to play around this and any other permanent GY hate the deck SBs 3 bounce spells (Echoing Truth and Chain of Vapors).
Or
Mindbreak Trap will work also but hit Stack 3 waiting until they cast Shallow Grave or Goryo’s Vengeance. Hitting Stack 2 will give them more of a chance to combo off again that turn with the right cards. Stack 3 also has the benefit of having GB in the GY which means he can be Surgically Extracted.
Other Responses
In the likely event you are on the play game 2, Relic of Progenitus is worth considering again tapping on stack 3. (And or Tormod's Crypt on stack three.)
This deck wins by milling itself with undercity informer or ballustrade spy, then using dread return on a win condition. I'll cover the most frequent.
This is a belcherlike deck, extremely quick. We often can't do much about it. If you run mindbreaktrap, use it on the miller, otherwise they'll mill into cabal therapy and potebtially wreck you (specially if they probed you first).
Thalia is mvp, ethersworn canonist often helps. For that you have to live till turn 2.
Post side RIP/relic help a bit, but it's more a matter of "do they win turn one?". Don't side out 1 mana spells, they'll get you around chancellor of tithes.
Allways watch their wincondition game 1. Often they'll get a huge sutured ghoul with the haste giving enchantment. If they didnt cabal therapy your STP you just won. Otherwise you can go to game 2.
Otherwise, they can dread return an angel of glory's rise getting azami+laboratory maniac. Note that stp won't save you here, they'll just tap the second wizard in response. Revoker on azami only gives you one turn to find a solution. This is probably their best possible wincon.
Remember they might draw intobtheur wincondition, in which case they need LED or end of turn discard to get it in the yard. I ince relic of progenitus their dread return this way, winning the game.
-Average Matchup
-You are probably aggro, but occasionally control depending on situation
Your goal here is to not overextend into a Pernicious Deed or Revoke it. Though they use their graveyard heavily, they don't have to rely on it and, because of Deed, Pridemage, Pulse, etc. is it not worth siding in Wheel. It's hard to land screw them since they have many basics and Veteran Explorer nets them every color they need by Turn 2. If you aren't low on lands yourself, Plowshare it to deny them accelerated resources. Otherwise, the effect can sometimes help you as much as them. These will be grindy matches, like Zoo. Sometimes it won't work out for you. Flickerwisp can be invaluable at saving your pieces or destroying their tokens. Grunt is also a must for this matchup, since it is a much more reliable piece of hate if you get a Light and Shadow going. Don't count on mana denial, but do try to get rid of Phyrexian Tower since it gives them a sac outlets and prevents exile effects. Revoker should be naming Deed, but subsequent ones can go after Top, Recurring Nightmare/Birthing Pod or Pridemage/Elder.
-Your best cards are Revoker, Grunt, Flickerwisp, and exile removal.
-poor matchup
-Your role changes. I start out as control.
-Well, you have to handle Deathrite Shaman. It hurts early because of the mana it provides. It hurts late because it can kill you. Revokers, Swords to Plowshares, Rest in Peace, and any additional hate you bring in are all fine cards to spend on it. Don't be shy about it, though I will not plow a Shaman that is already revoked unless there is some specific reason to. Engineered Plague is a problem. They will probably call human. You do not have a great answer for it. Oblivion Ring can be Decayed with disasterous results. Nothing you have is a sure thing, but card advantage is a big deal in this matchup. Stoneforge Mystic is strong. Don't take any chances with getting it Hymned from your hand - cast it turn two unless you also have Thalia in hand or some other way to guarantee he can't Hymn you yet.
-Bring in Jotun Grunt, extra removal, Rest in Peace from the sideboard.
-Hard matchup
-You are assuredly control
-Your goal is to live long enough to get an active Jitte doing its thing. Bonus points if equipped to Mirran Crusader, as they have no defense for the attack, and can't pull Wirewood Symbiote block/bounce shenanigans. The problem with Elves is that it's part-storm, part-swarm-aggro, part-"I win"-single-spell-combo, easily possible to catch our fair, white deck off-guard if we are defending against the wrong plan.
It is possible for Elves to win on turn 2. Ethersworn Canonist stops an Elfball win off of Glimpse of Nature, and Aven Mindcensor/Grafdigger's Cage stops Natural Order-into-a-Craterhoof Behemoth, their most consistent win-condition. A common tactic is for Elves to sideboard in Progenitus, which we have no commonly used sideboard cards to deal with, so stopping the library search is critical. On the whole, Mindcensor is the card we have with the most overall value, since it also flies over their ground-crew. This is not a "must-respond" threat to them though, as sometimes your Elves opponent will just draw the cards needed to create a combo and win, so having some form of "storm" protection in Canonist or Mindbreak Trap helps.
Heritage Druid must be stopped at all costs, so Revoker it first. A solid player can still work around this with Birchlore Rangers, so try to make sure you side in as much removal as possible. Wirewood Symbiote is also a fine choice to name with Revoker, situation depending, as it can hold back even a Jitte with its ability used on an Elf blocker. It also generates repeatable extra draws with Elvish Visionary, which is, again, why library search tax is great but not insurmountable.
Once you get a Jitte with counters on it, it is usually a good idea to kill something right away with it, since they use most of their activated abilities on their turns. They have Abrupt Decay and tutor-able effects like Viridian Shaman to deal with Jitte, Revoker, Cage, and Canonist, so extras are always great. The 2nd Jitte out of the board wins games, and also increases the chance you have one in your opening hand, enabling hardcast on turn 2. If you are met with this favorable situation, it could be correct to swing in with an equipped Mother of Runes on turn 3, even if she were to die.
The best extra removal we have is Gut Shot since almost all Elves are 1/1, and it is "free", allowing the tempo swing of taking out an Elf and having a turn one play like Vial or Mom. Speed is the key with this match, creating a situation where Fiend Hunter is preferable to Mangara. Our best cards are Aven Mindcensor, spot removal, Grafdigger's Cage, Ethersworn Canonist, Jitte, Revoker, and Mom
-50/50 Matchup [Yeah, but only if you have three or four Angel's Grace or possibly one or more Sundial of the infinite in your SB. Otherwise it is far worse. -Finn]
-You are aggro/control
The trick is to apply pressure while making sure you have the silver bullet in hand after boarding, Angel's Grace. Game one is very bad for us, we should keep aggressive hands and aim to tie their mana down. There's not much else we can do. Game two you should mulligan to find Angel's Grace. This card stops them. Hive Mind is a blue deck so it can't discard it. The only way for them to win through Angel's Grace is to go off, bait Angel's Grace, pay their upkeep trigger, then play another Pact. This is very awkward for them seeing as they need to mess around with Pact of Negation. This gives you a lot of time to attack for the win. Their alternate win condition is Show and Tell into Emrakul but this is very awkward. Karakas, Mangara of Corondor, Oblivion Ring and Phyrexian Metamorph after boarding just gets rid of it reliably. After boarding, the deck is well equipped to handle both side of the combo, but because of the game one disadvantage and the possibility of them having a fast hand that beats yours, the match-up is around 50/50.
-Your best cards are Angel's Grace, Karakas, Mangara of Corondor and Phyrexian Metamorph. While these are your best cards it's extremely important to apply pressure. Against combo you need the combination of disruption and aggression to win, and Hive Mind is no exception (especially game one!) Game two you can lock them out with a Karakas on the table and an Angel's Grace (or two) in hand. It depends on your starting hand.
-poor matchup
-you are control
-this is just a bad, bad matchup. Many of the things said in the TES analysis still applies, but if they don't win turn one, the pilot is playing Belcher wrong. If you somehow luck out, revoke goblin charbelcher and LED. Thalia's a priority. Keep in mind that they can still empty the warrens/grapeshot you for the win as well. Storm hate from the side is still relevant, and remember that they have less removal than TES does.
-your best cards are Thalia, mom and Revoker.
-Sideboard options: Stony silence laughs at belcher, but Ethersworn canonist will win you the game. Canonist is priority, silence them later.
[10/4/12 - Judge's Familiar changes this matchup considerably. If you land Judge's Familiar turn 1, you should be able to make it to turn 2. If you then land Revoker, Canonist, or Thalia, you actually are in decent shape. -Finn]
VI. Mulligans
It has come to my attention that new players are looking for this kind of advice. Mulliaganing with D+T is pretty easy, but I suppose there are a few things to consider. Here is a quickie guide to mulligans with this deck. I will get around to adding some more examples some day.
Hands
1 Wasteland
1 Rishadan Port
1 Aether Vial
1 Judge's Familiar
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Flickerwisp
I like this one because it has lots of disruption (remember this is a control deck) and a possible turn 4 Flickerwisp to put you way out ahead in both tempo and board position. Be mindful of what has happened in the mean time. You may want to flicker your own Vial after ticking it to 3 for the Wisp if there is nothing else to hit. Against an unknown opponent I think I go Vial first whether on the play or draw. You could go the safety method with Judge's Familiar on turn 1 in case the other guy has Belcher, Reanimator, ANT or something like that. But I would play the odds here. Against the other top 100 decks, turn 1 Vial with mana denial is about as good a non-combo opener any deck has in Legacy.
T1: Plains, Vial
T2: Port , Port on upkeep, Vialed -> Familiar for emergencies (Show and Tell, Natural Order, etc)
T3: Wasteland (use it if you can), Vial -> Thalia (on your turn), attack with Familiar, Port on upkeep
If your opponent was unable to do anything amazing amidst your denial up to this point, you have all but won this game. It's not that your board presence is huge, but rather that your topdecks are going to take advantage of it. Be picky about sacrificing the Familar here. Let him have Ponders and Brainstorms unless you happen to know that he has plenty of lands in his hand or something.
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Phrexian Revoker
1 Mother of Runes
1 Mother of Runes
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Stoneforge Mystic
This one has a clear line of play for turn 1, but you have options after that. If the first Mother of Runes was handled immediately you can always cast the other if you topdecked Wasteland or used Swors to plowshares or something. Revoker only if you have something to revoke, otherwise Mystic comes next to start the pressure. Mystic -> Batterskull is about 10x better with an active Mother of Runes.
1 Wasteland
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Serra Avenger
1 Mangara of Corondor
I would keep this one against most opponents, but I would play the Wasteland first simply because the chances of topdecking another Karakas are less than topdecking another colorless mana source. The mana supply is suspect, so if it is against RUG or BUG Delver it is a definite mulligan. They [I]will[/I] Wasteland your Wasteland if they are any good. Beyond that though, this hand is serviceable. You don't have a turn 1 play at all, but you have several strong turn 2 plays. And more strong plays to follow. In most cases Thalia comes down first to provide cover for the rest of your early plays. It has two cards that are uncastable with the lands you started with, but you do already have Mangara and Karakas. There usually is no need to rush into Mangara lock. It will come.
1 Wasteland
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Judge's Familiar
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Serra Avenger
No way I keep this one. You really have to get two white sources or a Vial to be in the game with this one.
1 Plains
1 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Flickerwisp
1 Flickerwisp
1 Mangara of Corondor
This might look tempting, but if your opponent counters or somehow handles your turn 1 Vial, you have a dead hand. It just is not worth taking the chance. In general, I hate getting two 3 cmc cards in my opening hand. Later on they are great, of course. But not in the opener.
Some of these links are bound to not work as time goes on. Too bad too, because the early video coverage is hilarious with commentators not understanding the deck.
Shahar Shenhar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xticirLepB4
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Pretty good production values on this Richard Castle video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcz3F-yP6b8
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Be sure to watch the between-match coverage as Patrick Sullivan and Cedric Phillips demonstrate their complete lack of understanding in this first one starring Ben Nash.
http://starcitygames.com/events/120909_portland.html
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This one is Garrett Roosa. More clueless talking heads. Thanks to Quicken for the link.
http://blip.tv/scglive/scgri-leg-rd-9-thomas-croan-vs-garret-roosa-6137426
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They got David Winsauer's name wrong, but the coverage is decent. Ya gotta love the Arbiter tech.
http://blip.tv/scglive/scgatl-leg-rd-5-david-winsaver-vs-tony-chu-5554138
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Thomas Enevoldsen final GP: Strasbourg April 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6flkb-W5u6Y
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Thomas Enevoldsen rd 16 GP: Strasbourg April 2013 against Sneak and Show - fantastic match (1:34:10) and also Michael Bonde versus Thomas Enevoldsen mirror match (3:05:35)
http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour/b/390844105 (go to 1:34:10)
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SCG deck tech - yet more commentators surprised that D&T is a thing July 2013
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/26460_Gindy-vs-McDarby-White-Weenie-vs-UR-Delver.html
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SCG deck tech interview with Thomas Enevoldsen July 2013
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/deck_tech_death__taxes_with_th.html
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Thomas Enevoldsen versus Dave Shiels at SCG Invitational July 2013.
http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/436439248
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Yohan Tengblad versus Hannes Lofgren finals Eternalkungen November 2013
http://www.twitch.tv/svmtv/b/476110693
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Ari Lax blowout versus Osyp Lebedowicz finals Legacy Champs November 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFd-a3yiLM&list=PLXvWVmmqyaqhlHBCEC8MX6mD0hTLm6b-l
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More Ari Lax. It's really absurd how poorly the commentators understand this deck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tvpF...MX6mD0hTLm6b-l
VIII. Articles
Clark Nichols is our own monovfox, with his award-winning June 2013 article
http://blog.mtgdeals.com/article-contest/there-are-two-things-certain-in-life-an-intro-to-death-and-taxes/
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Carsten Kotter's first part is D&T in this September 2012 article. It's a good description.
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/24821-Eternal-Europe-The-True-Heroes-Of-Legacy.html
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This is my D&T intro article from August 2012
http://southfloridamagic.com/archives/whats-next-for-legacy-white-is-the-new-blue
IX. Random Quotes
OK, I want to report on Oust. I feel that I have learned much of the ins and outs of this card. Here are my impressions.
1. You don't want it to be the only removal in your deck. As long as you aso have a full complement of STP you should be fine. The fact that stuff like Mangara, Vialed-in blockers, Oblivion Ring, and our equipment can also act as removal from time to time is an extra gain. The more creatures in your opponent's deck, the better it is. Best against Zoo, Gobs, Merfolk, Elves (did not test this one).
2. The sorcery speediness of the spell: It has not been an issue at all for me when playing it. The only part that sucks is how often it makes a Tarmo 1 bigger, as sorceries are one of the less common cards to pump it. But I have 3 Grunts in my main so even that has not been a major issue.
3. The 2nd from top part: This has been an unexpected benefit, and I might not even prefer the card to put creatures in the graveyard. I do not know if this will be the case with all versions of D+T, but in mine with 8 mana denial lands, I have been getting extra card advantage as my opponent draws the same creature again when what he needs is a land. On about three occasions against Zoo my opponent told me after the game (I asked a lot) that he wanted a fetchland on the top of the deck to shuffle away the creature. Merfolk did not have that chance, but the effect is similar. When they draw the creature again, it is a tempo gain that is actually greater than STP.
4. It has been especially nice against Tombstalkers and I imagine Dreadnoughts as well.
Conclusion: Oust is a legitimate tax. I am likely to include another one in my main, and I may go up to four. I recommend everyone give it a try.
-----------
liamb, I saw that too. Some odd card choices in there, but I like all the messing with Zenith. I wonder why he called it a Horizon deck.
Wo0ki3's Tools & Taxes
2 Jotun Grunt
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Mangara of Corondor
3 Silver Knight
4 Mother of Runes
4 Flickerwisp
4 Serra Avenger
Spells: 6
2 Enlightened Tutor
4 Swords to Plowshares
Artifacts/Enchantments: 10
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Aether Vial
3 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
3 Karakas
3 Flagstones of Trokair
10 Plains
1 Jotun Grunt
2 Path to Exile
3 Cataclysm
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Runed Halo
1 Serenity
1 Absolute Law
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
Deck Breakdown:
The toolbox approach has been discussed before, but I've only ever found 1 cohesive list that posted positive results online. I attempted to have a better game 1 against certain matchups with tutorable answers. Unfortunately, the original decision to include Halo, Caononist, and Pithing Needle/Beetle in the main got the axe for Silver Knights because I wanted better Game 1s against Goblins, Thresh, and Naya. Even more unfortunate is that all of those folks were playing combo this week as a funny joke on me. To be honest, I should have resisted the Pro-Red approach and used the toolbox to its fullest with the above cards. Oh well, lesson learned.
G1: He wins the die roll and empties his hand by turn two as usual. I StP some guys, curse myself for not including a pithing-needle effect in my main. He amasses a decent army again by I get a Top online and pull back-to-back-to-back Flickerwisps off on a Vial. The last wisp really ruined him because I intentionally didn't block his Ornithopter and he sacs everything to Ravager and throws some counters on Thopter for lethal. I activate top, draw Wisp and Vial it in. He's stuck with 2 Cranial Platings and a Blinkmoth. I get there with a Jitte'd Wisp & co.
G2:-4 Mother of Runes, 1 SoLS in comes 2 Path, 2 Tutor, 1 Serenity. I keep an opener with a top and two tutors. He can't play anything I don't have answers for. I establish the Mangara lock and continually remove his attackers after a successful Serenity. Top in play makes sure I can tutor for answers and play them the same turn. Double Avengers get there with no equipment support.
R2: Time Spiral Combo 0-2
G1: I get him to 1 while using 2 ports and 3 Flickerwisps during his upkeep off of Vial. He goes off and doesn't keep track of his storm count /mana pool. This is why I can't stand storm players sometimes. He casts Brain Freeze with 4 visible cards in the grave yard and I ask how many copies there were. He tells me 'I can do it again if you want' and shows me his hand, and yes, he can. Game 2.
G2: -4 StP, In comes Canonist, Halo, and 2 Tutors. Again I'm kicking myself for removing them from the main. I aggressively mull to 5 and can't find a tutor/target. I stick a useless Silver Knight that should have been a canonist and get him to 2 before he goes off. He again doesn't keep track of anything and I ask him for how much and he replies much the same way. I then request to die on my feet like a man to Emrakul and he shows me it and goes off again so he can kill me with it. We have a laugh and then it's off to Round 3.
R3: Lands 1-1 Draw
G1: He establishes board presence quickly and I know I don't want to waste what precious pre-boarded time I have for games 2-3 so I scoop.
G2: -4 StP, -4 Mom, In comes 2 Tutor, 3 Clysm, 1 Wheel, 1 Relic, and 1 Grunt. I get wheel out on him and it stalls him miserably for a few turns. My Top is making up for the fact that he's porting me every turn and I'm stuck on 2 lands. He can't amass his advantage when everything goes back to his library. He kills wheel and I tutor for a Relic EOT. I play a Relic and a Grunt and pass. On my turn I put my own wheel back in my Library and again Tutor EOT for it. I stick the wheel and this game drags on FOREVER. I finally land a clysm and he lands pithing needle for my top. In the end the judge calls time and we're on turns. I have a vial with 2 Counters that I'm waiting to hit 3 so I can get rid of his Ensnaring Bridge with Mangara in my hand, he's still got his port post-Clysm so he's keeping me off lands. He gets another Needle naming my Vial. It's his turn 4 when he passes with himself at 3 life staring down my lone avenger on the field. I can't win unless I draw a Seal or an O-ring. I draw the O-ring and get in there for exactly 3. One hell of a game.
R4: Bye
3 combo players made it to top 4. TES got 1st.
In the future I think there needs to be a mainboard presence of Caononists, Needle-Effects, and Halo. I probably want 1 Chalice in the board as well. I'll keep you guys updated.
Thanks all.
Cheers!
WW Death & Taxes
GG Control
RR Skred Red
Lumberjack, there have been a number of players who have played Mishra's Factory online. That seems fine, but I think the best way to go in that case is the green splash with Pridemages and Teegs.
While a pure mana denial strategy is impossible, Wasteland is preferable over Factory. You have so many dudes that you don't often need an "extra body". Wasteland is also key in some match ups you see VERY often like Dredge, ANT, and Zoo. Pick up the Wastelands and try them out. You'll be surprised at how key they are online even without Ports.
thats assuming he can shell out the 30 bucks per wasteland.
I personally feel that on MTGO, while Wasteland is a nice card to have, that things like Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter can make decent substitutes for those of us who do not have the cash flow to pay out what it costs to purchase the 30+ dollar wasteland.
I am fortunate that I managed to get my Wastelands for Paper when they were like 15 bucks each. But alas they have always been up around 30 bucks online.
EDIT: Oh and mad props on this deck finally making it to Proven
For the Time Spiral match, Wheel of Sun and Moon could have helped too, assuming you can find space for it. Just play it and target yourself, and it forces them to either bounce it or Stroke/Zenith you for your whole library.
Also, congrats to Finn. This deck has long deserved to be here in my opinion.
WorkshopsLegacy:
Death and Taxes
EDH:
Arcum DagssonMake Paradox Engine Great Again!Urza, Lord High Artificer
I ran Ghost Quarter in tournaments while I was saving up for Wastelands. I went 3-1 in two separate tournaments using it as a substitution. It's adequate, but not great. I would recommend it over Tectonic Edge though. There aren't many decks that will be phased because you get rid of their fourth land. Most decks will shrug that off.
Come join us in the MTGSalvation chat ||| My trade thread. ||| My Personal Modern Blog: The Fetchlands
Quirion Ranger + Mangara seems not-so-bad too. Congrats on Proven I suppose (though what am I congratulating anyways, a decklist?). Seems like I've only seen D&T with one or two splashed colors place in anything, though.
U G W NO Bant U G W
U G W R B Dredge! U G W R B
B G W Junk B G W
R G W B Aggro Loam R G W B
B W Deadguy B W
W Death & Taxes (almost!) W
G W Green & Taxes G W
B G W Junk & Taxes B G W
Momir Vig
Brion Stoutarm
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Arcum Daggson
As far as the deck's capacity to place top-8 in anything. Yes, I think it is primarily the decks with a green or black splash (or both) within this archetype that are going to be placing. Simply by virtue that they have a wider variety of answers. However that is not to say that the mono-white builds cannot pull out victories. I am sure there are places where the mono-white builds have effectively managed to pull off some wins.
I'd say going green and having more beef makes piloting this a lot easier than mono-white, since you have bigger creatures and having a clock means you will get easier wins against most decks.
The mono-white is focused more on disruption, and playing it correctly is crucial (ie. when to port, when to play the mystic, when to play the grunt). Not that it matters of course, a difficult win is still a win. Just giving reasons why the splash builds seem so popular.
On a side note:
I have found my most difficult match up with any version of this deck to be decks featuring large amounts of Black Edicts. One thing I am thinking of toying around with as a counter to these types of effects is Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard. It will at the very least slow down their strategy somewhat. The thing that bothers me is determining the correct number of these cards to play, especially in a sideboard with Enlightened Tutors.
Here's the sideboard i'm currently testing:
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Krosan Grip
1 Choke
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Ensnaring Bridge
Sword of Fire and Ice
2x Mother of Runes
Then, Sword of Light and Shadow
Finally, 2x Mother of Runes
WorkshopsLegacy:
Death and Taxes
EDH:
Arcum DagssonMake Paradox Engine Great Again!Urza, Lord High Artificer
I think that playing it turn one is nice only because you have more important things to do on turn two (and have less one-drops than two-drops), but more importantly, I think the cost difference matters because of GSZ, since he only ran 2 anyways and they were probably included more as tutor targets. With GSZ the Scryb costs 3, which is a lot to spend on such an effect, whereas Quirion only costs 2 at that point. The effect seems awesome. Attacking and activating Knight in one turn is brutal, and if you need a ton of mana to play multiple threats, you can tap three land, Knight one away, return one to hand untapping Knight, Knight away another land, tap the two new Knight lands, and replay the land you returned and tap it, turning three land into six if you haven't played a land for the turn yet. Hello Sun Titan! j/k.
The "Ranger" effect is even better with Mangara, though. Since the sacrificing isn't a cost (something this deck already takes advantage of), you can tap Mangara for the effect, then respond with Ranger before passing priority, untap Mangara and tap him again for the effect again without passing priority. Then you can respond again with the usual Karakas trick for the 2-for-0, or if you lack Karakas, still net a 2-for-1 on the whole.
First off, is this claim of more people playing the splash than not supported by any data? The mono-white build has been around for what seems like forever now, whereas the green splash was invented (if I'm not mistaken) by Lewis Laskin earlier this year... he was probably the only one playing it that day and took it to top 8 of a SCG tournament. That said, after his performance the popularity of the green splash certainly did take off, and the black/green splash became played shortly after. But I'm not sure they are more played than the white version, and I know that before the invention of the deck the mono-white build was around, and I'm not sure it was placing all that much.
There is also the question of whether it's placing because more people play it, or if more people play it because it's better. That I do not know. It is possible that it is more popular than the white version, and that this is what causes it to place, and it is possible that it is more popular partly or wholly because it is "easier" to play. But I doubt someone like Laskin would choose a certain deck due to ease of play. And when you look at the Quirion Ranger interactions made possible by the green splash described above, it makes you wonder if the deck is all that easier anyways. Basically, I think you could be right about what you say but I think there are also other possible explanations, and I would be curious to see data supporting the fact that color splashes are now more popular in Taxes than the mono-white. Of course, all of my claims are just supported by SCG tournaments, and I know that other tournaments are out there. I like to go by SCG though because of the ease of accessing information about them (not just the results, but the analysis in the "Too Much Information" articles posted there as well) and because they are very large in attendance and have very good players in attendance at every event.
Lastly, sorry for what looks in this small box like a massive post. Certainly tl;dr territory.
U G W NO Bant U G W
U G W R B Dredge! U G W R B
B G W Junk B G W
R G W B Aggro Loam R G W B
B W Deadguy B W
W Death & Taxes (almost!) W
G W Green & Taxes G W
B G W Junk & Taxes B G W
Momir Vig
Brion Stoutarm
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Arcum Daggson
Also, the GBW version isn't really DnT anymore. It's a rock deck that fits in Mangara and Karakas.
Also, Quirion does not make it harder to play. When you have it, you just use the tricks. It doesn't make any decisions any harder beyond knowing which things you can untap for a trick. I think the mono-white is harder because you have to juggle so many things - deny their mana with ports, laying disruptive pieces down, and knowing when to switch to aggro to finish them off with a sword. The green splash simply doesn't have many of these decisions since it can just play stuff out. Need to answer something? Qasali pridemage can do the job. Obviously, this is oversimplifying, since as someone said, it's not on autopilot, but this is what I mean when I say the monowhite is harder to pilot.
As for Leyline just being bounce-able, the plan is to lay it down turn 0, and then follow it up with either a Canonist or a Teeg.