My first round in the daily tonight was against hatebears and game 3 was the most interesting game that I had using the deck. He had a vial on 1 from turn 1 onwards, never using it, so I knew he had the forge tender or whatever it is that will prevent the damage from a red source. I draw my deck with and thankfully I had some extra mana to the to force him to put it into play before was on the stack. I then slaughter pacted it and he tried to flicker it with , but I pact of negationed it.
So something to keep in mind against GW Hatebears. He just about got me.
Match 2 was UWR control. The first two games were basically how this match goes. Game three is when my deck completely failed to run. I had a silence, 2 pacts, and the in hand. I just couldn't draw a visions or a peer or the actual .
Match 3 was burn. One of the easiest matchups out there. Won 2-0 easily.
Match 4 was storm. I normally don't mind this matchup, but he got through 2 echoing truths, a silence, a couple of pacts and still go off game 3 to kill me. It was nuts.
2-2 so far
I will update this post with the rest of the games in my daily afterwards.
Dylan: our best match-up is Tron, especially the RG version. UW can give us some troubles though it is favored for us... RG Tron and Living End are our best match-ups game 1, as they do nothing of major significance to interact with us. The best Tron can do is hope Karn can hit enough cards on his Exile abilities, while Living End may blow up a land or a Phyrexian Unlife with Beast Within.
I prefer fetchlands. The statistics behind deck-thinning is extremely small (especially since we should be running 4) - However, it's the mater of having a choice in what we need. It happens more than you would think where your fetch needs to hit a specific land, whether mana restrictions apply, or even life totals. City of Brass seems ideal in a deck that wants to solitaire, but if you are looking to be competitive you have to respect Affinity, Jund, BG Obliterator, Zoo, Burn, Twin, etc. A lot of these decks can either be aggressive or tempo you out, where taking incremental damage each turn is crucial. Even though it is a hefty 4 mana, this is exactly why I started playing Supreme Verdict (plus Drown in Sorrow is bad on the draw, or later in the game, though you should still play 1).
I honestly think our mana base is fantastic. For how shaky it looks, the more tournaments I play the more I realize how beautifully crafted it is.
One of my playtesting partners is on tron and it's harder when he knows how the deck works. It's not horrible, just annoying at times.
Just won an 8-man and I'm really liking how we stand in the metagame at the moment. Won over Melira Pod, Hatebears, and RG Tron. I don't particularly like the Tron matchup, but I don't think he understood how the deck worked, so I had an advantage.
Well, with the assault, you will probably need 6-8 lands on average when you Ad Nauseam. I don't think you will hit that consistently while staying at a healthy life total. It's technically two card combo, but I see your point.
The thing is though, that you don't need a good life total after you cast it because the game will be over. Yes you maybe shouldn't risk going to 3 or something boltable, but you can go pretty low because lands don't take any life away. From what I have found, when you cast it in about 10 cards you will get about 4 0cmc, 2 1cmc, 3 2cmc, and maybe something at 3cmc if you are running Souls or not. This is ~10-12 life for 10 cards. It can't be that hard to stay above 10 right? Especially with the use of Bow of Nylea which has been an allstar sideboard card for me lately.
I guess you do just win if you hit the number of needed lands.
As an player, I always will welcome an in testing. I think it would cost too much for this deck, although this deck grinds out the game so I don't know.
I have been getting into myself, and this is why I am suggesting it. The thing is that the deck functions best on three lands, but you have to go up to five if you want to activate a manland, mainly . Most games I will sit around 4 lands, while I am trying to stabilize, so by this time you will have seen enough cards in your deck to get it somehow. I don't think that it is that hard to go up one more land, especially if we are loaming each turn.
My thought process is that the card acts as a one-card-combo. Similar to , or the new UWR Kiki Control decks, which are control decks that can surprisingly combo off and win form no where. THis would allow us to have the option to win from nothing except a Assualt down. It IS risky thought because of the life loss, but there is probably some way to negate that. ?
Well, with the assault, you will probably need 6-8 lands on average when you . I don't think you will hit that consistently while staying at a healthy life total. It's technically a two card combo, but I see your point.
Ok, so this a really crazy idea, but with the high land count of the deck (I run 27 myself) would playing Ad Nauseam be a problem? I tried it out for a couple of games, and the amount of cards you can draw while being safe is surprisingly high. Normally the curve tops out at 3 mana, with Assault and Lily being the three drops but since Young Pyromancer has come into the picture the curve is now more focused on the 2 drops. This may seem as a crazy idea, but drawing 12-15 cards and winning on one go with all the lands isn't a bad play. And frankly this deck can't exactly rely on a huge meta shift to be able to be popular again. So I'm starting to branch out more and try new ideas to breath some life into the deck. Thoughts?
As an Ad Nauseam player, I always will welcome an Ad Nauseam in testing. I think it would cost too much for this deck, although this deck grinds out the game so I don't know.
Dont try the Travis woo version. It messes with the deck in fear of too many decks that are a good match up. I maindeck 3 Unlife but if you fear aggro, play 4. Zoo
I basically described a Woo Brew? I find that surprising as my ideas are completely off the wall.
I'm assuming he runs them main. I was merely suggesting a transformational sideboard strategy like a few lists ran grave titan when the deck first started.
I saw the primer mention grave titan as a transformational sideboard strategy. What about death's shadow instead of a grave titan? We take a lot of damage from aggro decks because we naturally have no removal. It also goes well with phyrexian unlife or angel's grace because negative life totals actually pumps the shadow, not that it needs it anymore.. We could also run fling as another wincon since we don't have to worry about removal after board except for abrupt decay sometimes. It would also deal upwards of 30-40 damage on average. Could be relevant for Soul Sisters.
If you're comboing out using instead of , you have to be very careful about when you cast . Ideally in this situation you'd draw your deck and the first thing you do it tap a white and cast a grace, that way you're perfectly safe in blowing up your own unlife (as scorn is destroy ALL enchantments). In matchups that surprise me with a leyline (ie, I'm not expecting it so don't side in Patrician't Scorn), I can still win by drawing my deck and casting targeting the leyline as I maindeck one copy.
I've never lost a game to a . Honestly when I see it resolve turn 1 it's like they mulliganed to 6. And if they purposely mulliganed down to 5-6 to actually get the leyline? All the better!
I don't have a problem with leyline either. Keep in mind that you can cast , then hold priority and cast the scorn right after it. I've had to do that a few times to win.
Also, I don't have too much trouble with soul sisters because I have a Conflagrate in the side as well. Does more damage than the lightning storm.
I just lost a match in the daily because MTGO screwed up when it didn't hold priority when I was clearly holding down ctrl. I was actually holding down both of them to try to prevent this.
I really don't see any reason to run Laboratory Maniac when we've already got such a reliable kill combo in the deck. I mainboard one Echoing Truth, and bring in a Patricians Scorn for the matchups where Leyline catches me. I've never once had a leyline stop me from making the kill.
The three pacts are for forcing your combo through, and using G1 (against non-control decks) as a free counterspell the turn before you KNOW you're going to go off. With Lightning Storm, you can respond to the lose the game trigger and win, so it's pretty good for that. They also help ensure that your storm goes through, but anyone who knows what they're playing against will be countering the Ad Nauseam as you cast it. Against a control deck, Ad Nauseam, Angel's Grace and Pact of Negation = fairly solid win.
Keep in mind that if they have counterflux mana up, make sure to play around that. I've lost to that card before because I did not expect it to be in the main. If they know how the deck works, they will counterflux the lightning storm.
About the idea of lab maniac, I found I never would want it over a lightning storm or a conflagrate. Plus this deck is very mana intensive, I don't want to "waste" mana on a win con that dies to basically everything in the format. Plus, either you have to have gitaxian probe or another blue mana for a draw spell. Leylines aren't that big of an issue for me.
If they've got Counterflux maindecked and in hand when we go off, there's nothing we can do anyway (aside from waiting to draw boseiju) and the game is lost. If they know what we're playing, we'll lose due to lack of a maindeck Silence (which comes in against all the UR control deck matchups I play).
Games two and three sure, play around it and be sure to cast Silence after you have your deck in your hand!
That is very true. Just have to pray they counter the ad nauseam instead of the Storm
Duh, I forgot the exact wording on mana confluence. My apologies.
Wouldn't lifeloss be better with unlife? I would agree with damage being better with angel's grace, but not unlife.
So something to keep in mind against GW Hatebears. He just about got me.
Match 2 was UWR control. The first two games were basically how this match goes. Game three is when my deck completely failed to run. I had a silence, 2 pacts, and the in hand. I just couldn't draw a visions or a peer or the actual .
Match 3 was burn. One of the easiest matchups out there. Won 2-0 easily.
Match 4 was storm. I normally don't mind this matchup, but he got through 2 echoing truths, a silence, a couple of pacts and still go off game 3 to kill me. It was nuts.
2-2 so far
I will update this post with the rest of the games in my daily afterwards.
One of my playtesting partners is on tron and it's harder when he knows how the deck works. It's not horrible, just annoying at times.
Is rest in peace that represented in the metagame?
I guess you do just win if you hit the number of needed lands.
Well, with the assault, you will probably need 6-8 lands on average when you . I don't think you will hit that consistently while staying at a healthy life total. It's technically a two card combo, but I see your point.
As an Ad Nauseam player, I always will welcome an Ad Nauseam in testing. I think it would cost too much for this deck, although this deck grinds out the game so I don't know.
I basically described a Woo Brew? I find that surprising as my ideas are completely off the wall.
I'm assuming he runs them main. I was merely suggesting a transformational sideboard strategy like a few lists ran grave titan when the deck first started.
Am I going too deep into this?
I don't have a problem with leyline either. Keep in mind that you can cast , then hold priority and cast the scorn right after it. I've had to do that a few times to win.
Also, I don't have too much trouble with soul sisters because I have a Conflagrate in the side as well. Does more damage than the lightning storm.
I might make a writeup a bit later.
That is very true. Just have to pray they counter the ad nauseam instead of the Storm