MTG Salvation

How come we donn have this thread while it's the deck to beat in PTQ season ...
debuted in Kenji's hands on GP Montreal, where he took a spot in Top8 with it ... after that - it showed some good results both in MTGO ond in during PTQ season ...

so my deck follows:

where is it?gimme a link cause i can't find!

where do u see pickles combo in it?

Quote from t$yat$ya

where do u see pickles combo in it?

It started as MUC and EVOLVED into MonoBlue Stasis (I refuse to call it by the food name). People just hadn't posted there in days until recently.

Quote from winzagain

I play MonoU and willbender > fathom seer.
In fact, Kenji (piloting monoU) said after playing the grand prix (top8) the one change he would have made to his MD was swapping the one fathom seer for another willbender.

i think that he wanted his 4th Brine Elemental not Willbender ... have to find it sumwhere tho!

Kenji Tsumura

Where are you from and what do you do?
Japan, hunting for pro points.
How long have you been playing Magic?
Eight years.
Previous Magic accomplishments?
2005 Player of the Year
Any card you regret not having in your deck or sideboard?
I wish a maindeck Fathom Seer had changed to a fourth Brine Elemental.
What was your MVP card on the weekend?
Vesuvan Shapeshifter and Brine Elemental
How do you feel about your matchups in the top 8?
Difficult for me. 9

Quote from mikey k159

yeah.. im also preety sure he wanted the elemental, not the will bender, funny thing is, you barley see people playing a full set of willbenders in a pickle deck now a days , always you see 3 willbender, or at least i do

also, why do people play 1 brine in the board and main like 2?

im not verry sure bout Willbenders in main since the aggro-Tarmo-invasion ... wat would targets fo Bender's ability be?

Quote from t$yat$ya

im not verry sure bout Willbenders in main since the aggro-Tarmo-invasion ... wat would targets fo Bender's ability be?

you could redirect the griffin guide. or a graft :-/. anyway i think benders should be is the SB as well.

I'm really impressed that mono-u pickles made such an impact in the Valencia PTQs. I'm seriously considering changing my mono-u T2 pickles to a mono-U block pickles over UG shifters.. hmm

Willbender temporal isolations, griffin guides vs white, and blue gives you all their bounce spells/abilities, psionic blast, and some other stuff.

ive learnd that Fathom Seer is not such a good card in that deck cas ive never combo it up with SS in 10 games .... i think its cause of the spot removal and lack of counters to back up that little combo ... so i prolly change them either with Compulsive Researches or Willbenders ... wut do u think?

i'd like to have a look at kenji's list if you don't mind. its www.starcity.com correct? sorry i don't visit that site

Here's Kenji's list for all who are interested:

Lotus's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
17x Island 4x Desert 4x Dreadship Reef 2x Urza's Factory 1x Calciform Pools 4x Brine Elemental 4x Riftwing Cloudskate 4x Vesuvan Shapeshifter 2x Willbender 3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir 2x Venser, Shaper Savant	4x Ancestral Visions 4x Delay 3x Cancel 2x Snapback	Sideboard: 4x Serrated Arrows 3x Aeon Chronicler 2x Willbender 3x Take Possession 1x Cancel 1x Snapback 1x Venser, Shaper Savant

17x Island
4x Desert
4x Dreadship Reef
2x Urza's Factory
1x Calciform Pools

4x Brine Elemental
4x Riftwing Cloudskate
4x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2x Willbender
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2x Venser, Shaper Savant4x Ancestral Visions
4x Delay
3x Cancel
2x SnapbackSideboard:
4x Serrated Arrows
3x Aeon Chronicler
2x Willbender
3x Take Possession
1x Cancel
1x Snapback
1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Did he happen to give a SB plan with this deck, What in, what out, and against what. Cause id like to play this deck at my upcoming ptq. I've been playing it in standard so i have all the stuff for it except for 1 venser and 1 teferi and 2 take possession. i'm just dreadful with SBs though. Help?

what are Arrows doing in the SB? against wat should i side them in ...

i also wonder if Shaper Parasite is any good as a tech in mirror?

holla!

It's decent, but they have Shapeshifter, which even things out.

I'd like to remark that Flores' transformational sideboard (Urborg/Damnation) pretty much destroys every bad matchup this deck has. GW Goyf (which I already believe is not as bad anymore, I have not been having as much trouble, and the sideboard destroys it), Predator Goyf (as long as you have the ability to counter a Stonecloaker, and you pretty much win here as long as you don't let a 'Derm resolve). The UG Goyf matchup is already great, and said sideboard plan blows it the hell away.

I do need some sideboard help, as it were.

These are locked in-
3 Urborg
4 Damnation
and I think, for the mirror & UG Shifter: 3 Spell Burst

Now, I need to figure out what to cut of the following:
2 Willbender
3 Serrated Arrows
2 Aeon Chronicler
1 Cancel

To be honest, I don't like Arrows anymore in the meta...they are a bit slow, and I don't need much more help against aggro. I could cut those and add the 4th cancel.
The Chroniclers help in the mirror and Teachings matchups. But I don't prefer tapping out, especially mid to late game against Pickles.

The Benders are solid in most matchups, but I wasn't really clear if they were, you know, effective enough.

Thoughts?

i like the damnation board. it really does fix one of the few bad matchups. I personally dont use any aeon chroniclers becuase i never want to tap out agaisnt mono blue or u/b during mid game/late game(one has lock the other has haunting hymn)



sideboard:

i also think willbenders arent needed anymroe in board. They are only really good against mono red. Against other decks, they are a bit effiy.

just wondering: how do you guys sideboard most of the time against u/b(at least for my board)?
is it just -2 snapback +1 cancel and +1 venser?

After much thought I have figured to go down to 2 Burst in the board. See, a good Pickles player will only leave in 1-2 Brine tops, so Burst is not that necessary, and often >1 is a dead card. I am trying to fit Arrows in, possibly for the sliver matchup. But that is the only matchup where they really shine, so I am not quite sure if I shouldn't go for snapback.

Hm.

Well right now, my sideboard is getting mixed up over six cards.

These six are

3 Spell Burst
1 Cancel
2 Aeon Chronicler

Spellburst goes in for mirror matchups. I am considering adding one to the maindeck instead of Snapback, since my other 7 (Urborg/Damnation) crush aggro, and I don't need much more help. (The remaining 2 are Willbenders).
Cacel goes in against Teachings and the mirror...it probably is not well-used. Serrated Arrows belong in the board, because not only do they aid the aggro matchup, but they also completely own Slivers...the ever-present X-factor deck.

Aeons also go in the mirror and teachings matchups...this I am disinclined to cut because it's so good, but it requires tapping out in the midgame...a horrible thing to do most of the time. It beats SO hard, though, but Shapeshifter often trades with it or it just dies to Teferi.

There's also the GRW Kavu Matchup, which is like 20/80 at best pre-board. Post board, we do okay, but I don't think it can be made favorable. I usually board in everything except fo r the Spell Bursts (with the new SB).

What reason is there to have Serrated Arrows anymore? Looter il-Kor? Would Pongify or Ovinize be a better choice for an aggro/Momentary Blink format?

- Natsume