Rootwater Diver is definitely an interesting option in this Storm+Miracles meta I seem to have found myself in. However, I'm already very comfortable with both those matchups and don't really need to win them any harder, whereas I could always use the help against non-blue. I may consider some split between Tidal and Diver.
Heir is a bad card. Heir is functionally a more expensive Triton Shorestalker with a downside. If the attack is not lethal, our opponent just doesn't block. If it is lethal, we'd very much rather Just Kill Them than draw 3 cards. Unblockable is also not particularly great when our stuff is generally islandwalking through anyway.
On 3 chalice, the thought is that maybe the meta has adapted and they're less effective than they used to be. I'm not entirely sure that's the case, even with as well as this build has done recently.
On 3 vial, there's 2 factors. First, vial is not actually particularly good in our deck compared to other vial decks. It's nice to have, but not really that important to what we fundamentally want to do, so playing less than 4 isn't totally out of the question (and that's why I don't hesitate to side them out when it's relevant, like when I side in Null Rod). In contrast, it's an utterly miserable topdeck, and we can't really afford those. The other factor are the maindeck Tidal Warriors upping our 1-drop dudes to 7 and total 1-drops to 10, enabling vial1 to do stuff more often and improving our aggression.
At 9:27 I didn't like the tempo loss. Dazing with just 1 land in play and no vial or a second T1 play is miserable, and later I could draw a Force or he could tap out for a Jace and I'd rather have the Daze in hand for either of those higher-impact possibilities. I probably should have attacked at 12:00 anyway even though he'd just chump with a token. In one of my 3-2 or 4-1 leagues I played against D&T with this build and won it thanks to Tidal.. and also my opponent massively mis-sideboarding (magus of the moon lol?).
I have been kind of wishing for my 4th chalice again a little, it's a lot harder to nail the impact of the 2nd daze compared to the "oh oops I win?" that chalice has.
Didn't think of that line at all. When Tidal is on board I should think through similar lines I would if I had a Wasteland, but I'm not in the habit of doing that yet.
Got another 5-0! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/117741927
Decklist in sig is up-to-date. I'm definitely pleased with this 10 1-drop style and 3 vial/chalice in the current online meta.
With abrupt decay running around more, chalice does seem a lot worse, but I'm still pretty pleased by them. They still hit 35% of the nonlands in most decks. I'd rather start jamming misdirection more than cut chalice, at least for now. Sneak and Show is much more of a reason to not run chalice as having proper access to Swan Song is huge there. Chalice also still isn't entirely irrelevant against S&S, though, as I've had several games where they've managed to resolve a sneak attack but had a lot of trouble finding a fatty thanks to the chalice, and they just died before they could find one.
Jace has been performing very well for me. When I initially added him to my sideboard, the main thing I wanted was a way to win that didn't involve combat damage. But, since he's Jace, he does a lot more than just that. I noticed I was siding him in a lot more than seemed reasonable for a sideboard card and he seemed decently useful even in the matchups he doesn't especially shine in, so I've been trying him maindeck. I now somewhat think the MTGO meta has shifted to make that not as good of a choice, but he's still more than earned a spot in the 75. Due to the complexity of playing planeswalkers, I believe it's much more useful to try him out yourself over just listening to me talk him up.
A competent D&T pilot should almost never lose a match, but can drop a game (30-70). Don't develop delusions that the matchup is anywhere close to even just because you play against bad players.
Elves is far more winnable, much thanks to Chalice. More points of interaction, and our fair game dominates their fair game. We have no such advantages in the D&T matchup.
Yep, that was an echoing truth. The reason I actually started playing it was because of a local Lands player so it's nice to show how much insurance it gave me that game. I delayed my chalice1 a turn so that I could make sure I left up 2 mana. If he was on ports I'd likely needed to have waited for even more land drops, but since he was on ghost quarter instead I knew it was safe to slam it with 4 lands. The insurance due to echoing truth is why I went really aggressive with jitte pump instead of holding back a little. I wanted him to sweat.
Other highlights was how *awful* the day started by facing up against gobbos round 1, so it was kind of weird that I actually got on camera. Also later my opponent SnTed an emrakul G1, and the next turn I topdecked and slammed jace.. He was like "lolwat that in fish?!" - so satisfying.
Like anything else, you're welcome to try it and see how it works for you. I think it's way too fragile though. Of the 4 matchups you list where you want it to help, I'm only really scared of 1 of them (D&T). We already have very solid matchup and options against the others. Also, remember that D&T runs 4 wastelands and likely boards in disenchants for Jitte, Manriki, or Rod, as well as some number of council's judgement for TNN.
On 3 vial, there's 2 factors. First, vial is not actually particularly good in our deck compared to other vial decks. It's nice to have, but not really that important to what we fundamentally want to do, so playing less than 4 isn't totally out of the question (and that's why I don't hesitate to side them out when it's relevant, like when I side in Null Rod). In contrast, it's an utterly miserable topdeck, and we can't really afford those. The other factor are the maindeck Tidal Warriors upping our 1-drop dudes to 7 and total 1-drops to 10, enabling vial1 to do stuff more often and improving our aggression.
I have been kind of wishing for my 4th chalice again a little, it's a lot harder to nail the impact of the 2nd daze compared to the "oh oops I win?" that chalice has.
I don't really think my list is *that* much stronger than before.. the meta is probably just especially soft right now.
Decklist in sig is up-to-date. I'm definitely pleased with this 10 1-drop style and 3 vial/chalice in the current online meta.
https://www.twitch.tv/tuxdev/v/109379479
Elves is far more winnable, much thanks to Chalice. More points of interaction, and our fair game dominates their fair game. We have no such advantages in the D&T matchup.
Other highlights was how *awful* the day started by facing up against gobbos round 1, so it was kind of weird that I actually got on camera. Also later my opponent SnTed an emrakul G1, and the next turn I topdecked and slammed jace.. He was like "lolwat that in fish?!" - so satisfying.
On another note: True-Name Nemesis is a Good Magic Card. Too bad I didn't see one G2.