Latest posts of: StanleyAugust

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Brian.

I have a question for you regarding one of the games Rich Shay played with the deck in the VSL. It's the game vs Bob Maher playing Tezzerator in W2. Have you watched the match? It can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MChMKeksGg0&list=PL3rP64NRtmbgwJwCLu5tySKSc2waMVypB&index=27

Rich is on the play vs Bob Maher with Library of Alexandria, Tropical, Mox Sapphire, Sylvan Library, Seeker of the Way, Force of Will, Mental Misstep as his starting 7.

Rich then leads with Tropical, Mox, Sylvan which I guess is fine. I would probably prefer leading with Library though, but I must admit that I don't know which is better.

Then he goes on to Force of Will Bob's Mana Crypt. What are your thoughts on this? I don't mean to bring Rich down, and I hope to get his comment as well, but I was pretty shocked when I saw this line.
On his next few draw steps he decides not to pay 8 life to go to 5 cards in hand which I think is a mistake as well especially in a matchup like this where your life total almost doesn't matter. Thoughts on this as well?

Rich ends up losing the game and it to me seems like his line of play was a big mistake. I think he could and should pretty easily have won that game.

Awesome idea for a deck and glad it worked out! Though I must say, I have no idea why that Jeremy Beaver accepted that deal. Did he really think that he was an 4-1 underdog?

I thought that necroing old threads wasn't allowed? It especially makes no sense to necro the thread "New Gifts, without Brainstorm or Thirst for Knowledge" because Thirst got unrestricted.

These cards are as complex as they are bad. I think that WoTC's creativity has gone too far. They are only inventing new mechanics with the purpose of inventing new mechanics - not because they bring anything meaningful to the game.

Just to let you know, you can't Green Sun’s Zenith into Containment Priest.

Very entertaining video. Well, the most entertaining thing is how you always complain about your opponent's luck Very Happy

You definitely need at least one Top in there somewhere.

Agree with serracollector. You're list doesn't seem to be tuned to a Mud heavy metagame. If you expect a lot of Shops, why would you have 9 dead cards against Shops in the main deck?

I really like the deck. I've netdecked it some time ago and it was really fun and challenging to play. And actually worked quite nice. I'm surprised that there's no Trinisphere in the SB? It's such a good card against Storm and Delver.

Great report and I love your deck! One thing bugs me though:

"I was a lock for T8 and offered to draw. He was the highest seed X-1 and there was a slim chance that a draw would jeopardize his chances, so he wanted to play. He asked if I would agree to draw at any point in the match if he changed his mind and I agreed, since I was locked no matter what. He mulled to 6. I Probed him g1 and saw Hurks, MisD, Doomsday, Underground, Underground, Tropical. I was soon high on life with a Mentor in play, Merchant Scrolling for Flusterstorm with Force, Fire//Ice, Notion Thief, and Repeal in hand. He Duressed me and conceded. He asked if I'd still draw, I kept my word."

I really don't understand this. Why would you agree to that? It's unsportsmanlike in my opinion and disrespectful to the other players in the event. I'm sorry if it comes off harsh, but either you play or you draw. Simple as that.

Good primer and thanks for writing. This looks very much like the builds I posted when Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay were initially spoiled. The main difference is you run Chalice, I ran Grafdigger's. I'm still not so sure that cutting Grafdigger's is the way to go, but I like your inclusion of Chalice. Also, what's the "secret" part of the deck?

Quote from: sirgog on March 03, 2015, 11:28:25 pm

Cards that can cast themselves from the graveyard may be worth considering with Mentor.

Has anyone tried Cabal Therapy, Raven's Crime and Monastery Mentor in one deck? I don't have the answers for what else you want in there; probably Life from the Loam and a bunch of hatebears (not sure about Thalia in this context).

Alternately, it could be a Fish variant that uses a lot of colours fuelled by DRS.

That was many people's first thought when YP was spoiled. It soon turned out that it's not the way to go. Also, Raven's Crime sucks.

I agree on Knight. It's a very good card and very underrated.

Quote from: Stormanimagus on February 14, 2015, 09:47:24 pm

I don't see how running mentor and pyromancer in the same deck makes any sense. You are overloading on creatures that way and using slots for pyromancer that SHOULD be used for token generation cards. You also get blown out by the same hate for your Alpha threat (Mentor) as you do for your Beta threat (Pyromancer). If you REALLY want to have aggro cards as extra kill conditions outside of Mentor at least choose a creature with a butt or a different type of utility. I'm not sure what a good example of this would be but I know that decks running Tabernacles, Deluges, Balance, Zealous Persecution or Golgari Charm. Fire/Ice (though to a lesser extent), Sudden Shock, and/or other sweepers will be licking their chops against a deck like this. Why do you NEED pyromancer at all? Meddling Mage protection? Like seriously, someone explain to me why a Mentor deck EVER NEEDS PYROMANCER.

-Storm

I agree with this. I haven't understood why a Mentor deck EVER NEEDS PYROMANCER either. Running 5-6 token generators seem way too many. 3 is probably all you NEED.

Hmm, I'm not sold. I'd rather focus on making the deck efficient and closing the games rather than semi good synergies who don't do much on their own. As someone else mentioned, the main issue is that your opponent too often stabilizes at 6-8 life so I'd rather focus on locking him out or killing him faster than bringing synergies to the table that aren't useful in the early game. Also, this setup is using reative rather proactive answers which I'm not fond of. I like the idea, I just think you'll find that the "combo" simply isn't efficient enough. A deck like this simply can't afford to run cards that are dead on their own, because the power level is so low.

Quote from: boggyb on February 06, 2015, 10:52:53 am

You might try a 4-color brew with Pyros, Snaps, and Bobs as well. Dark Confidant + Time Walk = mad money. I cooked one up last night and it did okay.

Quote from: Minkar on February 05, 2015, 05:17:44 pm

What advantage does this have over just constructing key vault?

Can't Burning Wish for Key Vault.
Key and Vault are bad cards on their own, while Regrowth, Burning Wish, and Time Walk are not.
Burning Wish and Regrowth are unrestricted.
If you don't want to run Tinker and/or a pile of artifacts, you also don't get to run Thirst or Academy, and Key and Vault are therefore even worse.
If Key or Vault is disrupted you are set back significantly; if Regrowth and/or Walk is disrupted you are still ahead.

I'm not saying that this isn't a better setup, but I just want to point out that some of these arguments are seriously flawed.

Quote from: msg67183 on January 29, 2015, 04:31:05 pm

Does this list more suite your fancy:

Abzan Humans

Mana (25):

4 Cavern of Souls

3 Windswept Heath

1 Verdant Catacombs

1 Marsh Flats

2 Savannah

2 Scrubland

2 Bayou

1 Forest

1 Plains

2 Wasteland

Strip Mine

1 Maze of Ith

Black Lotus

Mox Jet

Mox Emerald

Mox Pearl

Threats (28):

3 Mother of Runes

4 Noble Hierarch

3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

4 Dark Confidant

3 Mayor of Avabruck

3 Containment Priest

3 Aegis of the Gods

2 Banisher Priest

3 Knight of the Reliquary

Removal / Disruption (7):

3 Abrupt Decay

3 Stony Silence

1 Life from the Loam

Sideboard:

3 Ethersworn Canonist

2 Orzohv Pontiff

2 Umezawa's Jitte

2 Anafenza, the Foremost

1 Mayor of Avabruck

1 Banisher Priest

1 Containment Priest

1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

1 Bojuka Bog

1 Wasteland

I agree that Elesh Norn is amazing against Mentor decks as well as Dredge, Delver or any other deck trying to win through attacking with smallish creatures. Anafenza made the Dredge matchup fairly easy, so I just shipped it to the board, it can fairly easily be played turn 2, either with moxen or Hierarch. Maze is a very interesting choice that I missed when I originally built this, but it is indeed strong. What are your thoughts on the list now?

I like that list. It looks a lot more focused than most other Beats decks playing 4 Cavern. I would make room for Gaddock, though. The card is amazing right now.

I honestly don't think that Mental Misstep makes Welder that much worse. Sure, your game 1 is affected to some extend but game 2 and 3 aren't affected at all because your opponent is gonna board out MM anyway.
That said, I don't think that Welder is very good positioned right now but that's because of the prevalence of targeted removal, not Mental Misstep.

Your deck looks fun although Eidolon of the Great Revel looks weak to me.

Quote from: Protoaddict on January 10, 2015, 11:33:19 pm

Quote from: JACO on January 10, 2015, 04:50:45 pm

Winds of Change at 1 mana can't see play because it's so bad, so how is this (which is even worse) going to see play at 3 mana?

I am not going to pretend I know that this card will see play, but once again the cards are not comparable just like its not flux or Tolarian winds. It is not strictly worse, it's strictly different. Key differences:

Different color, black is typically stronger
Cards go to the discard for both players, not back into the deck. Powers Delve
Players draw less cards than they had, not the same amount.

How is black typically stronger than blue? Surprised

Flavor wise I would have liked her to have haste instead of first strike. Other than that, very interesting card. Compares to Propthetic Flamespeaker.

This card is bananas.

Quote from: fsecco on December 17, 2014, 05:59:17 am

I've always felt Humans could be a little more geared towards Imperial Recruiter. There are a lot of 1-of's you can play if you jam 2-3 Recruiters in the deck. I mean, from this "inspirational" list right there I could take 1 Priest, 1 Mindcensor, 1 Pilgrim out for 2 Recruiters and, say, 1 Flamespeaker. Does it slow the deck down too much?

I agree with this. At least in theory. Because I've been toying with the idea and trying out various builds for a long time but from my experience it's simply too slow to work in Vintage.

However, there are a lot of cool interactions with Imperial Recruiter. My original idea was to use it in some sort of Skullclamp + Oath of Ghouls build. For instance, Recruiter into Qasali is insanely strong with a Skullclamp in play. And gets ridiculous with an Oath of Ghouls in play as well. If you want to go in this direction, Avalanche Riders is pretty cool as well as is Stingscourger.

Containment Priest is definitely a big asset to Fish/Beats. I have one question for you, Guli: How do you win against Shops?

If I were to build a Hurkyl's storm deck, I would probably make it a hybrid between storm, the old Sensei Sensei deck and Turbo Vault + Key. As for a deck list, I don't have any, but there are a lot of great synergies going on. You might be able to cut the Tendrils and just use Brain Freeze as a win con. It combos very well with DTT/TC as well if you want to use either of these.

Quote from: Wagner on September 25, 2014, 03:44:51 am

Quote from: Coopes on September 24, 2014, 01:16:18 pm

Quote from: Chubby Rain on September 24, 2014, 10:06:45 am

Eric Froelich (MUC) vs Chris Pikula (Terra Nova)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiwdY3A0l2E&list=PLQQ8jPMFzt7lrrvBQm4YJm3U-zayXDrOA&index=1

Dave Williams (MUC) vs Bob Maher (Forgemaster)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p02GNZIwHtk&list=PLQQ8jPMFzt7lrrvBQm4YJm3U-zayXDrOA&index=5

Take home. Back to Basics is really really good against Shops.

The chalice on 6 from bob was so, so bad..but besides that the games were very entertaining!

Game one was so weird. I think he misplayed Jace so so bad. He could either have won by fateseal when Bob had very little relevant cards in his deck, or bounce the Metalworker 2 turns and kill with Trinket. He tried and failed to get a counter up instead, which I think was the worst option.

Yes I didn't get that either. He could have bounced a Metalworker, attacked with Trinket and if Bob didn't draw a threat in the next two turns, David would have won.

Quote from: Coopes on September 24, 2014, 01:16:18 pm

Quote from: Chubby Rain on September 24, 2014, 10:06:45 am

Totally agree. I have no idea what he was doing.

The chalice on 6 from bob was so, so bad..but besides that the games were very entertaining!

Quote from: Chubby Rain on September 24, 2014, 12:26:40 pm

I'm guessing Lightning Greaves.

Oh yeah sure, I forgot that it gives shroud as well.

Btw that Fuehler dude seems like the nicest guy!

Quote from: Chubby Rain on September 24, 2014, 10:06:45 am

What did I miss? Why didn't David just bounce the Lodestone with Jace @ 40:00 and attack for the win with the Trinket Mage?

Lol this card sucks big time. Zero chance it will ever see play. If you really want to reuse your spells, just play Snapcaster.

Quote from: Samoht on August 04, 2014, 01:35:09 am

Mark Tocco just split the finals of a 67 person event playing this deck (-3 Stifle +1 Island, Bolt, ??). He wasn't comfortable playing Stifle without testing the card enough, but man was the deck sweet for him all day.

It's a stretch calling it StifleStill then isn't it? Very Happy

Anyway, I agree with Shock Wave about Stifle and I think this Mark Tocco is right in cutting it from the list. I've never really been a fan of it because it often only does temporary stuff which Landstill in particular can't afford. You mention that it stops "Tangle Wire to keep up Drain. Forgemaster to stop Tinker. Griselbrand to stop draws. Silvergill to stop draw. Factory/Mutavault activation. Factory pump. Wasteland. Fetchlands. Jace ultimate. Jace brainstorm. Tezz -2 for TV. Welder. Hellkite. Storm trigger on Flusterstorm. Storm trigger on Tendrils, Dack -2 on my Crucible."

But using a card to stop Silvergill's ETB effect, to stop a Factory/Mutavault activation, a Factory pump, a Planeswalker effect etc. is definitely not something I want in Landstill.

I also think that you definitely need to find room for Bolt(s) somewhere for reasons already mentioned here.

Other than that the build looks cool, and I'm glad if Dack can find a shell in which he's actually good.