MTG Salvation

Thanks for the reply, SwordsToTimeshares. I've never played Elves with DnT, so I appreciate the advice in a still-forming, post-DTT metagame.

Are there any matches where we would outright cut Thalia for game two and/or three?

Will BUG decks return? More planeswalkers? Is Revoker worth including in the main deck again?

What is Grixis Delver's worst matchup? Was its recent rise a response to OmniTell?

Got 10th out of 47 with this:



Round 1: Grixis Delver

Felt like a champ during the first game. Combination of Vial, Thalia and Rishadan Port got there. I think I finished him off in the air with a Flickerwisp.

Second game, we were at a stalemate: my Mom and Thalia with SOFI to his Gurmag Angler. I blanked during his upkeep one time (not sure what happened), failing to tap his one black source with Port. He dropped Dread of Night. I chumped the Angler with Thalia, sitting at 4 life. Cracked Horizon Canopy, drew into Path to Exile to survive. He eventually Dug twice (RIP, where were you?) into multiple Lightning Bolts to finish me off.

Game three, I was tilting hard. We weren't able to finish. Started things in the draw bracket. Highly displeased.

Second round, I was matched against Aluren. A fact that didn't reveal itself to me until the third game, after he combo'd out. I have never played against it, otherwise I would have realized that Dream Stalker meant more than that I was just encountering a strange brew. I took the first game, drew no white sources the second on a mulligan to five, and I don't remember much about the third, except that I lost. And learned about Aluren.

Turns out, there were two Aluren decks in this tournament. Fun.

Third round: Bug Delver. Thalia and Wasteland did their thing the first round. The second round, Path to Exile cleared the path for a 2-0.

Fourth round: Bug Delver again. Had to work for the first game but won it soundly. Couldn't keep up with his creatures on the second. Drew into an early Rest in Peace for the third, which I was able to sandbag for a while until he spent Abrupt Decays on a Vial and a Thalia. After RIP resolved, Flickerwisp with SOFI ended the round.

Fifth round: Sylvan Plug. I thought it was some version of Loam (that lacked Loam, so, yeah). These were some grindy, grindy games. A fantastic top-decked Wasteland removed his Maze of Ith in the first. The second one went long enough that I was able to tutor for and equip SOFI and Jitte in order to alpha strike with four creatures to get around his blockers and Tower of the Magistrate advantage. Literally almost died to a single Dryad Arbor. Rishadan Port was amazing. By far my favorite card of the day.

Sixth round: OmniTell. I caught a glimpse of a Monk token, so I assumed he was on Miracles. Three turns into the first game, he casted Show and Tell and got a Release the Ants kill. I sided in a plethora of OmniTell hate.

I love this matchup. Mostly because it involves a noticeable lack of decision fatigue for me: "Does this hand have Thalia/Vryn/Canonist and mana?" Generally a keep.

Game two: turn one Cavern naming humans into Mom. My opponent groaned. "Is that your one-of?" Yup.

Turn two, Thalia. Turn three, top-decked Canonist. I'll take it.

Game three, I resolved an early Rest in Peace. My opponent laughed, then top-decked a Dig Through Time.

I survived long enough to resolve Vryn and Canonist. Opponent responded to a Port activation by using Intuition to snag three copies of Show and Tell, which he then tried to cast. I pointed at Canonist. He conceded.

So, 4-1-1. Not enough for top 8, but decent enough to earn back my entry fee. And I'm glad I stuck it out to try to overcome the tilt. I'm still beating myself up over missing that Port activation. I was sloppy during the Sylvan Plug matchup, too (I missed some Jitte counter triggers, attacked into Maze of Ith while I had a land and Port available, etc).

As usual, still an absolute pleasure to turn Brainstorm into a 1U spell.

Quote from Medea »

@redtwister
Great post. If I have a large chunk of time, I'll try to give you some feedback.

@zjep @jex

I would never board in a Cataclysm vs Grixis Delver. That deck operates very well on just a few lands, so the mana denial portion is not great. If you Cataclysm, you'll like leave them with either a DRS, Delver, Gurmag, or Pyro...uh, that's probably not a good spot for you, even if you do clean up some pyro tokens.

Your worst cards from the maindeck are Revokers (only DRS) and Canonist (it's fine for game one, but it isn't better than your dedicated hate). If you aren't running either of those, you'll need to just trim some numbers elsewhere, such as cutting some Wingmares (you might be bringing in 4-6 noncreature spells). Your best sideboard card is RiP, followed by additional removal (Path, Sunlance, Ratchet Bomb), followed by Absolute Law or additional creatures (Fiendslayer Paladin, Paladin En Vec, Baneslayer Angel).

Thanks for the input, Medea. I run 2 Revokers and 2 Canonist in the main, so it's a fairly easy cut. I also intend to cut three Vryn Wingmare. I'd end up boarding in all non-creature spells (3 RIP, 1 Path to Exile, 1 Council's Judgment, 1 Sunlance, 1 Oblivion Ring). Do you think that's taking it too far with the non-creature spells?

Does anyone have some thoughts on what our best cards are to sideboard against Grixis Delver? I'm curious how you all have tuned your boards to deal with it. And what cards you generally cut for games two and three.

Any thoughts on Michael Derczo's 8th place DnT build?

Disgruntled Elk, I would also like to know how you boarded. Also, how would you adjust for OmniTell?

Quote from SwordsToTimeshares »

...Anyone can go ahead with the weird antiquated thinking that playing dual lands is too fragile in a deck where the primary component is an artifact that cheats in its main win-cons, played in a format where every good deck runs dual lands and wins...

My reasoning isn't that complicated. I just don't like shuffling.

Still struggling in my Miracles matchup. What are the cards that are essential against Miracles now, with the current tendency to run Mentor in the main or board? My deck is mostly geared toward a combo heavy metagame, so I run 3 Vryn Wingmare, 2 Brimaz and 2 Spirit of the Labyrinth. Rest of the list is fairly stock (though only 3 Revokers, which of course makes the Miracles matchup that much harder).

Should I drop a Spirit and a Vryn for the fourth Revoker and a different flex card?

I ran Death and Taxes for the first time competitively in an event in the Bay area. Eleven or twelve attended.

The list:



I threw the sideboard together, obviously not having much experience with the deck. Running Ethersworn Canonist in the main felt necessary, given the amount of combo I expected (or feared) I'd encounter. Regardless, I figured I needed to start somewhere.

My first round opponent spoke assuredly and shuffled with precision. I awkwardly cut his deck like I was back in middle school while he shuffled mine several times. Been a while since I had played competitively.

So, the first game, I won the roll, resolved an Æther Vial and then hoped for the best (remember, hope is never a course of action). On his turn, he fetched a basic Island and cantripped. I looked at my hand decidedly lacking in combo hate and began to question life decisions.

On my turn again I drew...probably a plains or something, it doesn't matter. On his turn he dropped City of Traitors, Showed an Omniscience and Told me that he would in fact take his second turn granted by Cthulhu, when he proceeded to destroy everything on my side of the table, ferrying us into game two.

I sided in All The Things, or, specifically, a few more Canonists, the Relic-Warders and, I guess, the Judgments. Maybe he wouldn't Force it after combo'ing out, I thought. Didn't really matter.

I played first, like one does, and drew an opening seven that included Karakas, Vial, Rishadan Port, a Relic Warder, Thalia, and two other cards that I can't remember. A voice in the back of my head said, "Now it's all up to you, sport. Don't screw it up." Great. I shuffled my hand a few times, managed to not drop it all over the table, and began my turn.

I played the Karakas and Vial, then passed. On his turn he cantripped, passing back to me. I ticked up, pleased that I remembered the trigger, then played the Port and passed, tapping his Island during his upkeep. He played another Island and cantripped again. Still alive!

On my turn I ticked Vial up again and drew a Spirit of the Labyrinth. I vialed Thalia in and played the Spirit, feeling downright competent.

I brought on the beats for a turn or two, not nearly as stressed as I would have been had I been holding a Force of Will. I never really got the gist of which spell to counter while playing a blue deck versus a combo deck. Decision stress, you know?

Anyway, he eventually got up to five lands and fired off a Show and Tell. By that point, I was expecting to lose, so I begrudgingly flipped the Relic-Warder up and targeted the trigger at his Omniscience. He had no response, no Digs. I won the next turn.

Game three: I drew a similar hand, which he got to view with a Probe. He displayed some amount of displeasure at seeing Vryn Wingmare in my hand alongside the Thalia. Long story short, he eventually played Show and Tell, I flipped Oblivion Ring, attacked with Thalia. He later played Show and Tell again, I dropped Flickerwisp, which bought me enough time to finish him off the next turn.

Pretty sure he tried to get the Release the Ants bit going, but never found the gas.

We finished with enough time for me to appreciate how absolutely sweet it feels to prevent opponents from executing their game plan. I told my wife about this later, explaining why Death and Taxes worked well.

"It doesn't sound very fun for your opponents," she said.

"No, it isn't, but they are likewise attempting to do un-fun things to me." (This is how we talk in my memory, apparently).

I'm going to wrap this up now, given that I've already written more than I intended. Suffice to say, I faced two more OmniTell decks, one TES and one Mentor Miracles, losing only to Miracles. Full disclosure: I ID'd with the last OmniTell player, who was running a black splash for Thoughtseize. We played for fun. He beat me. I kept shoddy hands. I guess stress makes me really evaluate whether a hand will help me to not die.

Now, the purpose of all this rambling: How do you folks recommend I adjust for what may be a combo-heavy metagame? Yes, this tournament was a small subset not necessarily indicative of the metagame in this area as a whole. But I get the feeling that combo makes up a decent part of it. And I lost game one against every OmniTell deck I faced. Am I unnecessarily opening myself up to getting crushed by a non-combo deck by running Canonist main deck?

Short term, I'd like to try out three Wingmares and maybe put the third Canonist in the board.

What cards would you say are excellent in their own right but don't have a place in established decks?

My submission would be Infernal Tribute. I enjoy being able to sacrifice excess lands in the late game for card draw. And there are other uses, of course.

What other cards fit this category?

You can stick Abrupt Decay on an Isochron Scepter. Yes, it doesn't fit any established archetypes. But something to consider?

Sci Fi Games and Comics, located at 3215 Old Chapel Hill Rd.

It runs Legacy games at 2 p.m. on Sundays, usually seeing 14-18 participants. Meta-wise, expect the usual suspects of Delver and Maverick with the occasional combo deck.

The people are friendly and the store is clean. Recommended.