Germbus match issues

[scars4eyes]

Hello,

I am currently and have been playing Germbus, very similar to the standard build with 3 angels, 1 mox monkey, and 1 decree.

Now the only questions i have are is anyone having slight trouble beating, madness and or hulk?  also supergro seems to have a edge in this matchup, what are some ideas i can get to help these matchups?

Also does anyone else find a problem with specific matchups?  I find that control slaver is a easier matchup than workshop slaver.

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Brainstorm
2x Cunning Wish
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mystical Tutor

2x Skeletal Scrying
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Mind Twist
1x Demonic Tutor

3x Exalted Angel
3x Swords to Plowshares
1x Balance
1x Decree of Justice

1x Gorilla Shaman

1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby

1x Island
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
4x Flooded Strand
4x Tundra
3x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island
1x City of Brass

SB:
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Disenchant
1x Rack and Ruin
1x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Firestorm
1x Gush (not sure this is needed but it helps double white)
1x Rule of Law
2x Flame Tongue Kavu
1x Skeletal Scrying
1x Coffin Purge
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Swords to Plowshares

Some sideboard cards:
I am thinking of possibly using, grim reminder, moat + 4th angel, Aura Fracture, or 2nd Mox Monkey.

We see lots of workshop decks, stax, slavers, tnt, affinity.  some control like supergro, and some aggro, madness, R/G beats, also 2 combo decks, 1 dragon, 1 belcher.

Thank you,
LP

[Jacob Orlove]

Posts with just questions/decklists belong in newbie. Moved.

[Kowal]

Madness:
It depends on which build you're playing against.  Three color has issues with Keeper because the hyperaggressive nature of it is just weak against a deck with a decent amount of spot removal and pseudo-damage prevention via angel.  The U/G build is annoying because they can cut you off from WW and can randomly block angel sometimes.  Also, they can fuck with your balance, which is major frowns.  This is definately not a good matchup, but their high content of blue stuff makes REB really good.  Oh, also, Null Rod is mad annoying.  Don't let that shit hit.

Hulk:
You NEED the third scrying, period.  When playing this matchup I've come to determine that skillful application of Balance is the key to winning.  If you can force it to resolve (much easier post board with rebs of course) then you can usually do enough damage to force a large Scrying through, and take control of the game.
If you intend to go mana denial, you really need to do so early.  If you let them land two islands, you can walk right in to Gush.

SuperGro:
Er, eh?  This isn't a problem matchup.  GAT is strictly better against you because of Duress and the inevitability of active psychatogs,  and even that isn't so bad.  You've got a lot of spot removal and Exalteds that can gain more life than mystic enforcer can deal, as opposed to the 2G.  Also, your spot removal is very diverse, so Meddling Mage doesn't really stop much of it.  I don't see why you're having problems here.

Hope this helps.

EDIT:  Haha, I got here first, Z.  

[Zherbus]

SuperGro is so random in that almost noone plays it and there isn't a standard list by which to follow. It really shouldn't be all that difficult since you'll likely be able to out draw them (Scrying IS better than Thirst) and use your wishes to blast men all day. I REALLY can't see what the issue with this matchup is at all.

As for U/g Madness, this is one of those 'sideboard' matchups. You'll lose game 1 (god know my team lost every game 1 of every series) but boarding in extra removal (to keep those madness outlets in check) and FTK's really swing the matchup to the point where it's just as rare to lose a game 2 or 3 as it is for you to win a game 1.

Tog is just hard no matter how you split it just because it often just draws more. The dynamics of this matchup are interesting because here, with 4cControl, you have a very high skill cap where as Tog has a low skill cap. If the skill levels of both players are the same, the Tog player will win everytime simply because it draws better on a long enough run. You can only rely on mana denial so much. It works if you have a ton of it, but if you just draw your first Wasteland on turn 4, you're better off saving it for your own spells.

There are tons of little tricks you can pull of with 4cControl against Tog like screwing up the math with an Angel, saving a Drain for a FoW to feed a large Scrying, or just using the ol' 'stretch yourself thin and Balance later' routine. They don't always work, but it's really up to you to figure out when best to use a specific playstyle. Beyond that, just take it as your bad matchup and don't lie to yourself. Just try to steal games from Tog and hope that decks that you do well against (FCG, Slaver, etc) do a number of the Tog players for you.

As for your list, there is absolutely no excuse to have less than 3 Scryings. I can't see getting away with only 2 Shaman either, but whatever. I also can't see wasting sideboard space on Rule of Law. Firestorm is just bad here, I can't see the reasoning behind it when you have no steady way to fuel it.

[TheBrassMan]

On the Hulk matchup:

It's just plain tough no matter how you look at it, but it's not unwinnable.  
With your decklist, I'd board out the Wishes and two Swords for 3 REB and the 3rd Scrying, but like Kowal and Zherbus already said, I'd try to fit another maindeck Scrying if I could.

Your priority is to figure out your opponent's gameplan.  If he's just trying to combo off, your best bet is to lay down an early Angel and start gaining some life.  He'll have to spend his control resources if he still wants to swing in early on, and shouldn't be able to stop a Swords or REB.  If you're pretty sure your opponent tries to combo out every game, you could drop other cards for more Swords games 2 and 3, but I wouldn't suggest it under most circumstances.

If he's trying to out-control you, you're in for an uphill battle.  He has more card draw in his deck, so protect yours and make it count - try not to Scry for 1 or 2 unless you absolutely have to.  Duress hurts, but you have Brainstorms and a lot of solid cards he has to chose from.

Obviously your strategy has to vary due to specific card choices, playstyle, and the cards you're getting, but that's just what I've noticed about the matchup from the Hulk side of the table.

[scars4eyes]

thanks for all the input, the reasoning I went to 1 gorilla shaman was that I had put in a main deck damping matrix, but I dont think that is fully needed.

I get some more results in to see how well this works.  with an updated list.  there is alot of random decks in my meta, saturday was our first proxy tournament, and our first fully powered turnout.  Unfortunately it was a double elim tournament that took well over 9 hours.