Wait he's not white?


Anyways...grats on all the finishes. I would like to hear your arguement about the Oath vs. Mud.
And Madness in the Top!?!?!? I want to see that list.
What surprises me is, no Tezz top 8ing? (Unless Remora is a Tezz-style deck)

Thanks for the vids, they were definetly a cool change.

Is there going to be more posted?

After some testing, this deck is a house against shops.  Only losing 3 of the 10 games we actually played.  The deck can pull itself out of some really awkward positions.

Has anyone else have any new suggestions from Rise of Eldrazi?  What about any results?

If you were to look at the GWSx thread, you will see a more updated list. That list is great for a shop metagame.
I am leaning more towards GWSx as being better against shops right now.
With 3x Hurk Recall and 1x Rebuild main, plus Thoughtseize and a Dark Confidant draw engine, I really like GWSx more against shops.

That is not to say TPS is bad against shops though. Having played TPS for the last 6 months, and then recently switching over to GWSx, I would say that TPS is good against shops as well because of Force and the ability to drop bombs. Not to mention with a good sideboard, TPS could be great.  TPS was origanally built to beat a heavy shop metagame, way back in the day.

And as for drain tendrils, well it is good against shops as well. Mana Drain on almost anything that a shop player plays can lead to pushing through an advantage. Not to mention, like TPS, with a good sideboard, the deck can be geared against shops.

But, in my opinion, I favor GWSx right now against a shop heavy metagame.

My .2 cents.

I know that Seal is probable better, but I don't own a seal. I own a Grim Tutor, though.

I have found Noble Fish being hard to beat preboard. It is easier post board, but it is still kind of rough for me.
Any suggestions?

Did some testing today, here is my current list.

GWSx
4 Dark Confidant
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Mind's Desire
1 Timetwister
1 Ad Nauseum
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Grim Tutor

2 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Rebuild

4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mana Vault
2 Underground Sea
3 Swamp
2 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Tolarian Academy

Yes its 61 cards.  My meta is not too infested with Shops either.  I like the current build, Ad Nas has won me a few games, when it resolves. And I have a Grim Tutor, but no Imperial Seal

I played 10 games against Mud, winning 7, losing 3.
The three I lost were to dumb hands like turn 1 Chalice at 1 and 0,  turn 1 Trinisphere, etc.
The deck played great. I even played through a trinisphere with ad nauseum.

I went mox, mox, land go. He played 3sphere.
I played land go, he strip mine + crucible.
I Demonic tutor for rebuild and say go.
He strips and says go.
I play land, go.
He plays tangle wire.
Wire on stack, rebuild, land, mox, mox, ritual, Ad Naus, win.

So I was on the play, it helped a lot. I also like Ad Naus as another bomb against control.

It's a great deck.
I tested against mono red stax as well, losting 5 games, but winning 6. He had a turn 1 chalice at 1 EVERY game. No joke.

All in all, the deck is great. I really enjoy playing it.
I will continue to test some more.

Thanks.

Well, I will continue to test Grim Tutor. As I have found, from playin TPS as much, is that Grim Tutor can also find me a needed Time Walk or Recall. Although this deck is not as so 'bomby' as TPS, it is still great to tutor for the needed cards.

As for the sideboard, what are your thoughts on Extripate?

Have you tried Grim Tutor?

Anyways, I am too a TPS player, and I believe that I will be switching it up to GWSx.  The deck just has raw power, and a draw engine. It is great.
I really like the deck.
Also, running three tendrils is awesome.  I also had a kill with 2x ritual, 1x lotus, yawg win, 1x Sieze, and 2x Tendrils. (Yep no land) I was just messin around with the deck at the time, my opponent was playing shops, so I knew i wa safe to keep this hand on the play.
Also, I played around double thorn with Confidants, found Hurkyl's Recall, and won. Its awesome.

The deck is great. I will continue to test and post results when I can.

Thanks!

I have been playing TPS for the last 5 months, and I really am considering switching to GWSx. I really like the deck and I really like how it plays out. BUT, my meta has Oath and Noble Fish in it. So, my question to you is, how does this deck do against Fish and Oath?
We do have a fair amount of shops as well, but Noble Fish and Oath won the last 4 tournaments here (Washington).

Thanks!

P.S. Congrats on your finishes Duncan.

I'm not sure if you all have talked about tendrils in the list at all, but IMO, if you are running tutors + 6-8 rituals+ Yawg Will, a 1 or 2 of tendrils could not be bad.  It is also a second win conditions.

Here is a list I have thought up.

Creatures
4 Dark Confidant
4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir

Other Spells
4 Dark Ritual
3 Cabal Ritual
4 Sadistic Sacrament
3 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendril's of Agony


Artifacts
4 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Jet

Land
10 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland
2 Dark Depths
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

I understand the whole Gatekeeper, but is four too much? Also, I have found out that Needle is really hard to deal with, so why not run the tendrils?

Another thought that just came to mind is why not run some green?
Crop Rotation would be huge in finding Dark Depths and Strip Mine.  Plus you can run a Life from the Loam or too, just to add to the disruption. And you could possibly get Goyf.  And more sideboard hate for cards like Needle and such.

EDIT: Sorry the issue has already been addressed.  I still think that green could be a great splash.

KSF + Trinket Mage is pretty nutty.  I can see this in a U/W Fish or Bomberman deck of sorts.  It's also pretty cool to attack in, then play KSF to replay a blocker. Though combat Damage isn't really used in vintage.  I can see this card being really explored.

But why would you run a spell, such as bargain, into the trap?

I understand that the Trap and Stifle are nothing alike.  What I was trying to make is I play against them almost all the same.  Which is to run duress.  Sometimes, you have to run spells into it.  It is more, I guess, like playing around a counterspell.  If that makes sense.  I find myself baiting against the trap sometimes.  But like I have said, I like to run Duress out there a lot more. expecially when you can anticipate or even have the feeling of them having the trap.

I know, though, it isn't the end of TPS, and I understand the card is hard to deal with.  That was just how I did deal with it. It takes a lot to set up against it sometimes too.

For the record I did top 4 at this tournament. The card was played against me in almost every tez and Oath match up (3 I think, out of 5 rounds) and I ran into it one time, where I wasn't prepared (I ended up winning due to a topdeck).  I believe that Duress and Force, mostly Duress, can fix the problem.  Although, you are right, it is a hard card to play around.  And to be truthful, I believe I would have top 2'd if I didn't draw dead in the semi-finals.  The guy drew the nuts both games, but thats vintage. 

What I am trying to say is, the card is definetly bad and hard to play around it, BUT you can play around it. Duress has been so good against it, and as I have said, a TPS player would play duress, usually more than once, when setting up the combo. I understand that it is hard to do so, but it is great when you do.  In fact, I have also DT'd or VT'd for Duress to hit the card and combo off. 

But to agree, the card is hard to play against, but not unbeatable.

Up here in washington, the trap has been played a few times.  When I played against a deck that ran it, I always would duress it first, or play with Force back up.

When I was talking to a friend of mine about TPS(Before I built it) I asked about the card and he simply said (not exact quote)"The trap is like playing around stifle, a smart combo player will have duress'd or have Force back up when playing around it."

Now I know that you sometimes just have to go all out, and run into it, which I have.  Sometimes you just have to play around it.  But the point I am trying to make is, I treat the trap like Stifle. Sometimes you just run into, most of the times I have duress or Force back up.

In my opinion, the card isn't very hard to play around.

I like that Oath deck.
Grats, keep up the good work!

Sounds like you want a deck like Mono Red Shop Aggro.
MRSA is a decent deck, it recently split in the finals of a tournament here in WA.
The deck puts a fast clock on the board, with disruption.
I'd check out that deck.

You shouldn't put so much capitalized words in your post.
But, great job on the tournament! I also thought that Landstill would be decent in this metagame.
Congrats on the top 4.
Your deck looks interesting as well.
I have a few questions, like why daze? how good was it? And, how was maindeck rebs?

The Colossus Academy and the Flaming Force of Will look sick!!

Good job to the top 8!

I would really like to read TK's comments on his Mono Blue deck.  A friend of mine played it to the top 8 of one of our tournaments today, and it looks awesome!!

Grats on the finish!

This is probably one of the funniest things I have ever read (about Magic).

I was watching a friend of mine play TPS. He actually opens the nut draw, it was something like ritual, ritual, DT, Sea, Fetch, Lotus, Duress.
He proceeds to play ritual, ritual, Dt for Necropotence, plays it, draws like 12, and passes.
Luckily he won next turn. It was just funny to see that kind of play, instead of winning the game.

The reason they are suggesting Tezzeret is because it is the best win condition blue has to offer right now.  And running three of them makes it much easier to deal with cards like duress and thoughtsieze, as mentioned above.

If you are having trouble accepting the fact that Tezz is that good, then the win conditions I would suggest you try would be 2-3 Glen Elendra Archmage and 1 Meloku.  Meloku is a great win condition, and the Archmages are two counters each.

But in the end, I would suggest testing their ideas instead of arguing against them.  It really is the best way to try and understand what Dan Carp, Soly, and Mac (Implacable) are trying to tell you.

Also, I like Powder Keg because it deals with a lot of random threats now-a-days.  Many decks run a fair amount of basics to make B2B seem not as strong, though I admit to not having much experience with the card.  I can see it being amazing in a field full of Stax, though.

That's my two cents.

Thanks for the input.
Do you think then that SoFI would be Crucibles in a Smokestack list?

What I do like, though, is the Ravager + Triskelion combo.  It can end games quick.

On the Censor note, I believe that it is stronger than ever.  Seeing that almost all of blue draw engine is now restricted, blue decks resort to tutors.  Censor disables that as well.  And, as of now, I believe that Confidant is the best draw engine now.

Thanks!

Congrats on winning it with Mud Aggro!!!
I really like the list. I would like to hear why Tobi believes Smokestack is better than Juggs?

I also agree with Adan.  5 Color has the tutor package, which almost seems too slow or clunky in the format now.  But Mud has the deal with me now, which I believe is great. 

Grats again!

I agree.  Having played Staxx for roughly 2.5 years, it is very tough to play well.
Good work on the top 8.  Interesting decklist, though.
How were the Thorns in the Main?
And why Balance in the Side?

Good Work!

I would enjoy seeing that Goblin Decklist.
It would be an interesting choice for todays metagame.

I would like to see that 5c Staxx list.
Grats!

Sweet, so how did the results come up? (win to loss ratio)
And you said your list is like the one above, but I assume -4 DA +4 Squee? How has that been?
What is your answer to Leylines, and Tormod's Crypts?

Grats TK.
I really like the list.
It would be cool to have some report on it or something!

It's like a blue Elvish Piper, except for all artifacts.

It would be cool to see this card in play, but only time will tell.

So has there been any new testing or results with this deck?
How about a splash color?
I am thinking about building this deck as it seems pretty fun and new.
Thoughts?

Is mono white the best way to go?
Or is a splash red? Blue?

Or what about running the plainswalker Elspeth, Knight-Errant as a win condition?
Do you think it is too slow?

Thanks!