Duress Question

[honestabe]

Playing via MWS with a friend, I played an early duress.  my oponent has mulled to 6, and has a land and mox in play.  his hand shows tezz, vamp, bob, land.  My hand is a little below average, with no controll.  I take tezz, but he firmly beleives vamp was the right call.  I ended up winning anyway, but what is the proper play.  I'm failry connfident that Tezz was the right play, as I had no way to stop a card that wins him the game in 1 turn.  I think his problem is that he's primarily a legacy player, and perhaps doesn't understand the power level of the cards.

Anyway, what do you think the correct play is.  Tezz, or vamp, while your own hand has no control

[Clint_NZ]

With the information you have provided I am going to guess that

a) The land and mox in play did not produce B
b)The land in hand did not produce B

If either of these did then a first turn Bob or Vamp in response to duress would/should have happened.
Your opponent is still 3 mana away from casting Tez (2 counting land in hand)

It really depends on what else is in your hand, you state no control but do not say what your holding.

So with the vague information I could sway either way on this.

If your opponent hit a black source then vamp for lotus or other accel to get tez into play, or vamp for some
gas, or Bob to gain CA.

By the sounds of it you were afraid of Tez and made the call.

[MagicIsCardboardCrack]

I also would question why he didn't vamp in response, if he had black open. Was he tapped out or no black producing sources? If he was and he just didn't play it yes i'd say vamp is what I'd take. But yea if he's holding black cards with black sources somethings already wrong.

[honestabe]

With the information you have provided I am going to guess that

a) The land and mox in play did not produce B
b)The land in hand did not produce B

If either of these did then a first turn Bob or Vamp in response to duress would/should have happened.
Your opponent is still 3 mana away from casting Tez (2 counting land in hand)

It really depends on what else is in your hand, you state no control but do not say what your holding.

So with the vague information I could sway either way on this.

If your opponent hit a black source then vamp for lotus or other accel to get tez into play, or vamp for some
gas, or Bob to gain CA.

By the sounds of it you were afraid of Tez and made the call.

I also would question why he didn't vamp in response, if he had black open. Was he tapped out or no black producing sources? If he was and he just didn't play it yes i'd say vamp is what I'd take. But yea if he's holding black cards with black sources somethings already wrong.

It was turn 1, and he had played an island, and pondered.

[Nefarias]

It was turn 1, and he had played an island, and pondered.

Was the other land in his hand capable of producing black? And did he shuffle from Ponder?

[honestabe]

It was turn 1, and he had played an island, and pondered.

Was the other land in his hand capable of producing black? And did he shuffle from Ponder?

The land in his hand was underground sea, but the reason i was worried that black lotus, or a mox and mana crypt wins him the game if i don't take tezz, and i'd rather have my opponent resolve a turn 2 or 3 ancestral than a turn 2 or 3 Tezz.

no, he didn't shuffle from ponder.

What happened was he played Bob,  and pulled mana crypt and a mox within the next 2 turns, which was exactly what I was fearing

[Grand Inquisitor]

It sounds like taking Tez was the right play.

As other posters have said, it would be helpful to have more details, especially regarding what was in your hand.

E.g., if you were casting thoughtseize instead of duress and you had a way to tutor for FoW, you could take Bob, and lure him into vamping for Lotus and then counter tez after he's burned all his resources (or something like that).  You might also have made him go the bob route, which is slow to develop, while you get a more aggressive line of play.

[honestabe]

It sounds like taking Tez was the right play.

As other posters have said, it would be helpful to have more details, especially regarding what was in your hand.

E.g., if you were casting thoughtseize instead of duress and you had a way to tutor for FoW, you could take Bob, and lure him into vamping for Lotus and then counter tez after he's burned all his resources (or something like that).  You might also have made him go the bob route, which is slow to develop, while you get a more aggressive line of play.

My hand had no controll whatsoever (besides the duress, or course).


1 Underground sea
2 Volcanic island,
1 duress
1 mox emerald
2 dark confidant


With my Confidants being the only business, i needed to make sure they would land, hence the turn 1 duress over turn 1 confidant.  I took the Tezz, he dropped a Bob, I dropped mine.  He did end up vamping for Ancestral, but it wasn't that big of a step ahead for him, because my 2 bobs were feeding me lots of cards.  I ended up winning, which makes me think my choise was correct even more

[Grand Inquisitor]

1 Underground sea
2 Volcanic island,
1 duress
1 mox emerald
2 dark confidant

This is really helpful and presents a similar 'go, no-go' choice.  If you're feeling confident you could take vampiric and play both your bobs.  With only one blocker on his side, you have 2x bob's to attack and take out his tezzeret if he lands it.  This would be an easier choice if you had a 2nd black source, since you could potentially drop both of these the following turn.  Your hope with this gambe is that he doesn't draw the accelerant right away, that he doesn't drain your 2nd bob and that he doesn't draw removal or bounce of his confidant.

With 2x bob's to his one, you could also make the safe play, take the tez, and try to out-advantage him over the long term (this is probably the route i'd go).

[meadbert]

I probably would have opened with Bob to begin with hoping to draw a counter.  Had I opened with Duress I would have taken Vamp since if he Vamps for Darkblast it could be sad times for you while your own Bobs can answer Tez as GI has already pointed out.

[Wagner]

I probably would have opened with Bob to begin with hoping to draw a counter.  Had I opened with Duress I would have taken Vamp since if he Vamps for Darkblast it could be sad times for you while your own Bobs can answer Tez as GI has already pointed out.

Agree with this. If he FoW your turn 1 Bob, you are still ahead, if your Bob resolves, you have reasonable odds of doing turn 2 Bob + Duress. Since you had 2 creatures to keep Tezz in check, I would have taken Vamp, he could have tutored for Dark Blast or even Fire/Ice.