Duress and Hymn to Tourach, which one first?

[dan_hellspawn]

OK, I'm finally registered but still a n00b to Type 1, so i'll post here for awhile.

If you drew Swamp, Dark Ritual, which would you play first, Duress? or Hymn to Tourach?

If you Hymn first, there will be less cards to choose from, and you may leave your Duress not finding a target nonland, noncreature card. I have been using Duress first for this reason alone.

Also, if your opponent has played first, would you play Duress, then Sinkhole before Hymn to Tourach in that situation? Is hand disruption greater than land disruption? I'm assuming this could also depend on the metagame and matchup. Someone with alot of Moxes might not get as hurt by a Sinkhole first turn, but stripping away 2 key cards would probably bother them.

Thanks for any input.

Dan

[Shock Wave]

Quote If you drew Swamp, Dark Ritual, which would you play first, Duress? or Hymn to Tourach?

In the scenario you're describing above, your hand consists of: Swamp, Dark Ritual, Hymn To Tourach, Duress, and 3 other cards (assuming you're playing first)

You always cast Duress first. If you're new to T1, perhaps you've never had a Hymn To Tourach or Sinkhole Misdirected at you/your land. It hurts.

Quote Also, if your opponent has played first, would you play Duress, then Sinkhole before Hymn to Tourach in that situation? Is hand disruption greater than land disruption? I'm assuming this could also depend on the metagame and matchup.

It depends entirely upon the matchup and what is in your hand. You're not providing much detail on what your hand consists of, so I'll just assume that you have the option of either a first turn Sinkhole or Hymn To Tourach.

vs. anything other than control: Hymn first.
vs. control: I would sinkhole first, depending on how much land I have in my hand. That way, if it gets misdirected, it doesn't hurt as much.

Remember, Duress is gold!

[Zherbus]

Always lead in with Duress. It prevents that whole Misdirection nonsense, among other reasons.

I also tend to use sinkholes to test the waters if I have plenty of mana. If they dont Misdirect a Sinkhole when mana light, then chances are they wont be able to Misdirection a Hymn.

[Freddie]

I like it when they dark ritual, then duress me... they see 2 misdirects and 2 blue cards...

They are not as happy.



Always lead with a duress though

-Freddie

[Puschkin]

I´d go with Duress, too. An additional reason to do so is that the peeking at his hand has other benefits, too. For example you might see that, after taking away one offending card, he may have no solution left in his hand and you might be better off casting a threat instead of the second hand destruction spell.

[Nevyn]

The duress lead is a pretty clear choice. Beyond that, the sinkhole-hymn decision will depend a lot of what the duress shows you. Generally though I would expect sinkhole to come first.

[Anonymous]

1st turn Duress
2nd If they have a couple of lands in hand I would go for Hymn if not Sinkhole.