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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: White Trash - Post Origins
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on: February 16, 2016, 09:19:42 am
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I know someone who played White Trash recently at an event and he said his worst matchup is Mentor. What can this deck do to combat Mentor decks?
This is a hard topic to approach. 2 cards i've found that were great against mentor was Jitte and Batterskull with SFM, but mentor decks run dack so it's a tough call. I'd say the best bet is a combination of thalia and canonsworn to limit their prowess triggers.
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: Why play Bomberman? (NE US)
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on: February 10, 2016, 11:41:18 am
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Miquel is probably the best bomberman player in the league. If he plays FoF and 0 Faydens, probably it's because of good reasons  I'd also play fayden if I'm playing volcanics, even over Jace. And about Fact, it's really powerful. Not only you are digging deeper, often it gives more CA and most important of all, it's not hosed by Notion Thief or SotL. If this deck had black instead red, probably gifts would be better than FoF, Btw, I assume the hydroblast in the sb is actually a pyroblast... I tested his list and I actually really like it. I'd personally probably run either a mentor as a 1-of or some other alternate win con. I'm still iffy on the Fact or fiction though haha. However I really do like his 2 MD fluster and 2 MD mindbreak trap for the storm matchups. Which list would you run in a shops/storm heavy meta? I'd probably play something similar to his but instead of white, maybe go deeper in red
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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: Merfolk
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on: February 06, 2016, 07:31:07 pm
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depending on the deck you face (lots of cases where you want null rod), standstill is still powerful. Any non-aggro deck is going to crack it before you, specially if you play mutavaults.
I discussed this with antoniss some more and it seems that both vial and null rod has their uses. However, the issue is which one has MORE uses. Right now, I feel like Vial helps so much with G1 against Shops. Null Rod helps so much against Storm and Vault Key. I think depending on the meta, the numbers can change, but right now I am leaning towards maindecking Vials and SBing Null Rods. And you are correct. Standstill is great against many decks. My current list: Artifacts: 7 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Lotus Petal 4 Aether Vial Creatures: 19 4 Cursecatcher 4 Lord of Atlantis 4 Master of the Pearl Trident 4 Silvergill Adept 3 True-Name Nemesis Instants: 9 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Force of Will 4 Mental Misstep Sorceries:1 1 Time Walk Enchantments:4 4 Standstill Lands:20 3 Cavern of Souls 7 Island 1 Strip Mine 4 Wasteland 1 Riptide Laboratory 4 Mutavault SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap SB: 3 Steel Sabotage SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall SB: 3 Null Rod SB: 1 Propaganda
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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: Merfolk
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on: February 05, 2016, 03:20:07 pm
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Aight so. After more testing, I got wrecked by vault/key like 8 times. I think Null Rod is needed. have to decide now if there is any way to make it so I'm still better against shops.
Null Rod is still strong against Shops. I never had an issue with Workshops when I played Merfolk. Maybe instead of Null Rod, we fit in Revokers to go with Aether Vial to hit Vault Key or other shenanigans? Well, right now in testing, I have Vial/Standstill in the MD and null rod in the SB now. Whenever I switch in Null Rods, I take out vials+standstill.
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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: Merfolk
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on: February 05, 2016, 02:15:39 pm
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Aight so. After more testing, I got wrecked by vault/key like 8 times. I think Null Rod is needed. have to decide now if there is any way to make it so I'm still better against shops.
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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: Merfolk
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on: February 04, 2016, 12:07:43 pm
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Hmm. Thank you for your feedback!
The issue i've come across with from merfolks is that if you try to go aggro, the "control decks" like pyromancer or mentor can simply race you. Plus playing 1 fish a turn seemed a little too fair. I was hoping that the initial investment of vial plus card advantage of standtill can make merfolk a little more "unfair".
I guess I need to test out my idea more and work with the numbers. Right now, I think the classic builds of straight 20 lands, 4 caverns, and lots of fish is the better build. I'm hoping to eventually come across a spicer build that can compare or even surpass the standard.
On the bright side, I think adding mutavault/aethervial/standstill has yielded better results in a version I tested earlier with Stifle/Daze/Sygg lol
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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: Merfolk
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on: February 03, 2016, 10:38:41 am
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The issue I have with Null Rod is that if i'm on the draw, It feels too slow against the decks that you are trying to beat.
Aether Vial + Standstill though is a great way to grind out people, and with a single lord, your manlands are bigger than the manlands of Landstill or Shops.
I guess i'm just trying to test out new ideas since I feel like Merfolk isn't in a super viable place in the meta right now. I've tried to play the standard lists, but I always ran into several problems. 1. Deciding between dropping a threat or wastelanding. 2. Getting locked out by Lodestone Golem 3. Not having enough card draw
So I feel like Aether vial helps with 1 and 2, where as standstill helps with problem 3.
Hmm, hopefully someone more experienced can chime in and give me feedback on what theyd play in a relatively diverse field of Shops, Storm, Gush, and Oath.
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Eternal Formats / Null Rod Based Aggro / Re: Merfolk
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on: February 02, 2016, 09:51:02 am
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I've been testing various non-mainstream merfolk builds in my attempt to make it somewhat viable and here is a current test list. It's basically a standstill/vial list. It's not close to being optimal or top tier, but I feel like it has potential. This deck trades null rod for vial (not sure if correct or not, I just feel like a lot of the meta decks can ignore null rod right now). Vial is also pretty good against shops (atleast compared to traditional merfolk builds). And standstill is an ok draw engine. With this list, it's basically a worst standstill deck than landstill and a worse aggro deck than merfolks, but it has more flexibility. Opinions?
Lands: 20 3 Cavern of Souls 7 Island 1 Strip Mine 4 Wasteland 1 Riptide Laboratory 4 Mutavault
Artifacts: 7 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Lotus Petal 4 AEther Vial
Creatures: 19 4 Cursecatcher 4 Lord of Atlantis 4 Master of the Pearl Trident 4 Silvergill Adept 3 True-Name Nemesis
Instants: 9 1 Ancestral Recall 4 Force of Will 4 Mental Misstep
Sorceries: 1 1 Time Walk
Enchantments: 4 4 Standstill
SB: 15 SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage SB: 3 Mindbreak Trap SB: 1 Flusterstorm SB: 1 Dismember SB: 3 Steel Sabotage SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall SB: 1 Propaganda
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Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: Can we answer a Mentor?
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on: November 11, 2015, 04:10:39 pm
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I think this would be a good time to revisit how to answer mentor due to recent metagame changes. Because Chalice is no longer there to keep Moxes in check, mentor decks can now afford to jam 4 Mentor and MoxSolCrypt and wreck havoc.
So far i've been using moat in my SB. I want to test Ghostly Prison, Supreme Verdict, Sudden Shock, or Balance.
I currently play bomberman. Any other answers?
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Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Free Article] The Rise of Monastery Mentor
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on: November 03, 2015, 09:48:56 pm
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I think of remora as a sideboard option that is maindeckable in certain metas. It just eats up the opponent in a blue mirror. If anything, I don't think it's comparable to baby jace, but comparable to mystic remora. I think with the current meta, preordain is much better since it filters your next 2 draws, where as remora is either heavy card draw or heavy useless mana sink.
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: Why play Bomberman? (NE US)
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on: October 30, 2015, 03:50:58 pm
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Here is my current list
Artifacts: 12 1 Black Lotus 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Pyrite Spellbomb 2 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Sol Ring
Creatures: 8 2 Auriok Salvagers 1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy 1 Magus of the Future 1 Monastery Mentor 3 Trinket Mage
Instants: 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Dig Through Time 1 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 3 Mana Drain 3 Mental Misstep 1 Pyroblast 1 Swords to Plowshares 4 Thirst for Knowledge
Sorceries: 2 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise
Planeswalkers: 3 2 Dack Fayden 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands: 16 2 Cavern of Souls 2 Flooded Strand 2 Tundra 2 Island 2 Volcanic Island 1 Tolarian Academy 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Plains
SB: 1 Pithing Needle SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt SB: 2 Containment Priest SB: 2 Rest in Peace SB: 2 Pyroblast SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares SB: 2 Wear // Tear SB: 2 Magus of the Unseen SB: 1 Moat SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
I want to try to find room for a maindeck Wear//Tear and either a second flusterstorm or mindbreak trap. I also want to test either a second spell bomb or a lion's eye diamond.
How does everyone feel about Mana Drain in this TFK meta? Having 3 mana open is insane because it can represent either TFK or Mana Drain but i feel like the UU cost of drain is constricting.
Could you see cutting some counter magic and/or some number of planeswalkers for 2-3 gushes? Gush doesn't fit in bomberman the same way it fits in pyromancer or mentor. Those decks run cheap spells that cost 1 or 2 so losing 2 land drops isn't an issue. Bomberman requires 4 mana to cast Salvagers (6 mana to go off the same turn with lotus in yard) so it's a lot more mana intensive.
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: Why play Bomberman? (NE US)
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on: October 23, 2015, 05:23:58 pm
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Here is my current list
Artifacts: 12 1 Black Lotus 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Pyrite Spellbomb 2 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Sol Ring
Creatures: 8 2 Auriok Salvagers 1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy 1 Magus of the Future 1 Monastery Mentor 3 Trinket Mage
Instants: 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Dig Through Time 1 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 3 Mana Drain 3 Mental Misstep 1 Pyroblast 1 Swords to Plowshares 4 Thirst for Knowledge
Sorceries: 2 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise
Planeswalkers: 3 2 Dack Fayden 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands: 16 2 Cavern of Souls 2 Flooded Strand 2 Tundra 2 Island 2 Volcanic Island 1 Tolarian Academy 4 Scalding Tarn 1 Plains
SB: 1 Pithing Needle SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt SB: 2 Containment Priest SB: 2 Rest in Peace SB: 2 Pyroblast SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares SB: 2 Wear // Tear SB: 2 Magus of the Unseen SB: 1 Moat SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
I want to try to find room for a maindeck Wear//Tear and either a second flusterstorm or mindbreak trap. I also want to test either a second spell bomb or a lion's eye diamond.
How does everyone feel about Mana Drain in this TFK meta? Having 3 mana open is insane because it can represent either TFK or Mana Drain but i feel like the UU cost of drain is constricting.
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Eternal Formats / General Strategy Discussion / Re: [ORG]Jace,Vryn's Prodigy//Jace, Telepath Unbound
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on: August 16, 2015, 05:38:11 pm
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Maybe you're both right. Maybe baby jace and ojutai aren't "busted" in the same sense as recall, lotus, gush, dig, etc is, but it's still really good. Yes, a deck with 56 good cards is probably going to generate a lot of card advantage and any finisher will make the deck complete. However, out of the finishers, what is the best choice? For me, I use a slot for ojutai because it doesn't get hated out by mentor hate. Perhaps a SFM+batterskull would have worked or even a frost Titan. The bottom line is the cards work, and at the end of the day, I think it's more of a stylistic thing if anything. Some people like tokens so they end with mentor, some like dragons so they use ojutai, I bet someone has found success using Elspeth or Ajani. The shells in vintage are busted enough that finishers are more of a personality thing IMO.
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: UWR Monastery Mentor
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on: June 01, 2015, 10:29:47 am
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It seems to me that there are 2 main types of mentor decks now.
1) Plays 15-16 lands with the full set of moxen, mana crypt, sol ring, and plays bigger spells like Jace, Tinker, Dragons, etc. Typically plays 2-3 mentor. Plays less counters and draw spells in favor or higher impact spells
2) Plays 13-14 lands with only lotus, mox sapphire, mox ruby, and sometimes lotus petal. Plays 4 mentor as well as 2 snapcaster/young pyromancer and instead of bigger spells, runs more countermagic/removal
It seems that both of these decks have been placing well which leads me to think that either they're equally good and 2 different directions should be taken or that they're equally bad, and an optimized list is far from solved since if there was a solved list, people would play that instead.
Now, to think which version is better....
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Eternal Formats / Eternal Article Discussion / Re: [Free article] The Best Draw Engine in Vintage
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on: May 02, 2015, 03:28:13 pm
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After further testing, I came to the conclusion
1. Preordain is insane. I would never run less than 4. 2. 4 Dig and 1 Cruise is a bit much. 3 Dig or 2 Dig/1 Cruise is too little. I think the correct number is 3 Dig and 1 Cruise.
Opinions?
Also, if dig get's restricted, what do you think would take its place? Instead of 4 Digs that a lot of decks run, maybe 1 Dig, 1 Merchant Scroll, 1 Mystical Tutor, 1 random bomb? Idk.
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: UWR Monastery Mentor
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on: April 28, 2015, 04:05:17 pm
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I feel like I have come to 2 basic philosophies. I'm not sure which one is better so I was hoping for opinions.
Here is my first decklist. The idea behind this is to tutors for answers. Once you know what you need, you tutor for the answer and then win.
Artifacts:7 1 Black Lotus 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire
Creatures: 6 4 Monastery Mentor 2 Snapcaster Mage
Instants: 23 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 3 Dig Through Time 1 Fire // Ice 2 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 3 Gush 4 Mental Misstep 1 Misdirection 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Pyroblast 1 Swords to Plowshares
Lands: 14 2 Island 3 Misty Rainforest 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Tundra 3 Volcanic Island
Planeswalkers: 2 2 Dack Fayden
Sorceries: 8 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage SB: 3 Containment Priest SB: 3 Ingot Chewer SB: 1 Pyroblast SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares SB: 2 Wear // Tear SB: 1 Mountain SB: 1 Shattering Spree SB: 1 Sudden Shock
The second decklist is more recent. I wanted to see what it was like to give up tutors for raw card-draw power. This is what I came up with and it's been running pretty smoothly so far. It feels more aggressive than the first list but doesn't have as good as card selection.
Artifacts:7 1 Black Lotus 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire
Creatures: 6 4 Monastery Mentor 2 Snapcaster Mage
Instants: 24 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 4 Dig Through Time 2 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 4 Gush 3 Mental Misstep 1 Misdirection 2 Pyroblast 2 Swords to Plowshares
Lands: 14 2 Island 1 Library of Alexandria 2 Misty Rainforest 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Tundra 3 Volcanic Island
Planeswalkers: 2 2 Dack Fayden
Sorceries: 7 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage SB: 3 Containment Priest SB: 4 Ingot Chewer SB: 2 Wear // Tear SB: 1 Mountain SB: 1 Shattering Spree SB: 2 Sudden Shock
So, which direction do you think is better? Card selection or raw card advantage?
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: UWR Monastery Mentor
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on: April 27, 2015, 11:10:21 am
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Here is my current build:
Artifacts:7 1 Black Lotus 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire
Creatures: 5 4 Monastery Mentor 1 Snapcaster Mage
Instants: 23 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 3 Dig Through Time 1 Fire // Ice 2 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 3 Gush 4 Mental Misstep 1 Misdirection 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Pyroblast 1 Swords to Plowshares
Lands: 14 2 Island 1 Library of Alexandria 2 Misty Rainforest 4 Scalding Tarn 2 Tundra 3 Volcanic Island
Planeswalkers: 3 2 Dack Fayden 1 Jace, the Mindsculptor
Sorceries: 8 2 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 3 Preordain 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Time Walk
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage SB: 3 Containment Priest SB: 4 Ingot Chewer SB: 1 Pyroblast SB: 1 Swords to Plowshares SB: 1 Wear // Tear SB: 1 Mountain SB: 2 Shattering Spree
First thing y'all might have noticed is I opted for 4 monks. Some people prefer 3 Monks but from experience, I've lost more games due to not finding a threat than finding too many.
I run both Merchant Scroll and Mystical Tutor. This allows me 2 ways to find Pyroblast and Swords to Plowshares in a pinch. Along with the Snapcaster Mage, it gives me a fair number of ways to deal with random threats.
Finally, I know most people run 15 lands but I chose to run 14. It makes me weaker to shops but to compensate, my SB has more shops hate. I will consider going to 15 lands when I start losing a lot due to mana screw.
I really want to make Tinker+Robot work in mentor but it seems like that will be trying to do too much.
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Eternal Formats / Blue-Based Control / Re: UWR Monastery Mentor
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on: March 24, 2015, 08:31:34 pm
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Here is my current build:
Artifacts:7 1 Black Lotus 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire
Creatures: 5 4 Monastery Mentor 1 Snapcaster Mage
Instants: 20 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 3 Dig Through Time 1 Fire // Ice 2 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 3 Gush 3 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Swords to Plowshares
Lands: 15 3 Flooded Strand 2 Island 1 Library of Alexandria 2 Tundra 3 Volcanic Island 4 Scalding Tarn
Planeswalkers: 3 2 Dack Fayden 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries: 10 3 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 3 Preordain 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise
SB: 4 Containment Priest SB: 4 Ingot Chewer SB: 1 Wear // Tear SB: 1 Mountain SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt SB: 2 Shattering Spree SB: 2 Pyroblast
I opted for 4 monks because I've lost more games due to not finding a threat than finding too many
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