Grim Long - Play Situations

[ashiXIII]

Ok, I’ll try to explain how I view this situation.

Despite the fact that the gifts player only has 3 cards in hand, I wouldn’t discount the chance that they have a FoW.  Nonetheless, you want to get them to try to FoW you now.

In my experience, the decision of whether to Brainstorm or Windfall is a fundamental recurring question with Grim Long.  In my experience, the correct answer is usually Brainstorm.    Your hand here has a number of key bombs: 2 brainstorms, windfall, and bargain.  If you windfall for 5, youre dumping a number of key bombs without a good enough chance of seeing that same quality of threats and, in addition, your giving your opponent a chance to just untap and win.  I suppose the only reason to play Brainstomr off the petal is if you are definitely going to use the Petal this turn.  If you are, then there is a slight chance you’ll see Academy.  Imagine you brainstorm into lotus, desire, and something else?  In all likelihood, the gifts player is going to untap and not have drain mana up, but they will for sure have a countrspell next turn.  They’ll play a number of spells.

After the gifts however, your windfall will be looking hot if you can force them to lose those cards and you don’t lose your threats.  Brainstorm back a bargain and brainstorm, play the mana and windfall on turn one is looking to be my plan BEFORE I brainstorm.  After you brainstorm, you’ll have a much better idea of what your plan should in fact be.  You need to be concerned about what they can do.  Meanddck Gifts could explode next turn, so any one of your plans is risky, if you can win on the spot – on this turn without going “all in” – that is, if you can set up a plan to win now with some semblance of a back up plan, I would prefer that plan.  However, if you can set up an unstoppable turn two win, I would also consider that plan.  I think playing City and Brainstorm is probably best.  The reason is that you may need the petal to turn two bargain with fow or duress back up after you see what was in your brainstorm.  IF you see acceleration and play turn one windfall and they fow it, you’ll have bargain on top and then brainstorm underneath that – even if you both get into topdeck mode, I like grim longs chances so long as Gifts doesn’t combo out first.

This is very fair and makes a lot of sense. I can completely agree with playing the BS here, but I was curious as to why you said you would do it off the Petal. Now I know. In my experience with Grim Long, Brainstorm is an absolute bomb. I'd rather play it than a draw 7 in almost any situation. This card single-handedly allows you to win NOW much more often than it would appear. I can't count the number of times I've kept an okay hand with Brainstorm, then proceeded to Brainstorm into the brokenness I needed to win first turn. People constantly give me funny looks when I play a land or Sapphire, and immediately Brainstorm during my mainphase. On the same note, I can't count how many times it was Forced during either my first or second turn because people thought I was digging for land. All of this isn't even mentioning the synergy with Jar. I absolutely love this card in this deck.

[ErkBek]

All of that boils down to Steve's play suggestion.  And, I'll bet dollars to pesos that Steve can calculate better than I can what the opponents remaining 3 cards were.  I just thought I would throw that guess out there to see what people think about attempting to peice together your opponents remainding hand based on a gifts pile.  And also what you think about my logic.

I think that's a good analysis, but what's your play?

[Mr. Type 4]

That Gifts pile makes me wonder if they are holding 2X FOW. 

[Smmenen]

That Gifts pile makes me wonder if they are holding 2X FOW. 

Its important to note that they could have REB and use it off Ruby. 

For sure, the correct play is Brainstorm, probably off City.  But what you do next is impossible to say without knowing what was in yuor brainstorm. 

[ashiXIII]

That Gifts pile makes me wonder if they are holding 2X FOW. 

Its important to note that they could have REB and use it off Ruby. 

For sure, the correct play is Brainstorm, probably off City.  But what you do next is impossible to say without knowing what was in yuor brainstorm. 

Yeah, but not if you kill them now.

[ErkBek]

Now that I've got a number of responses, I tell how everything played out

I gave the gifts player the BS and mystical. As paul stated, a gifts like that makes you think they may have 2 FOW, well I put him on a FoW this turn and that he will probably have another FoW, drain, or a least a Reb within another 1-2 turns. So I played my land, petal, and mana crypt and cast Windfall......and it resolved much to my surprise. I drew 5 new cards, none of which let me produce another threat that turn. He then went on combo me out with multiple counter backup over the next 2 turns.

It turned out to be a play error, but if my read was correct it would have been the play. All of the things stated in the prior post I consided in planning out my turn. I made a play according to a read/judgement about what cards my opponent was holding. His gifts really made me think he was holding a FoW, so I figured I'd be able to bait the FoW and play a bargain on turn 2 or 3 with my own FoW backup.

@ Brainstorming before the Windfall. I really didn't consider this play as much as I should have, since I was so sure he had a Force in his hand (but I was wrong). In hindsight this seems like the play.

[Moxlotus]

I watched that game.  Why did you give him the Mystical and the BS anyways, rather than the Gifts+Scroll that I figured you would?

[Smmenen]

My read of the situation was then spot on.

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t really matter in my view how many FoW they have, turn one Brainstorm is still far and away the correct turn one play.   I understand why you made that play though – it takes a lot of experience to know and understand basic questions like: Windfall v. Brainstorm.   Repeatedly, experience has shown that Braisntorm is correct. 

My original response said:

I'd have to write two pages on the functionality of windfall, brainstorm, and threat density to adequately explain the reasoning on why Grin Long should play brainstorm here.

Then I went onto explain myself:

Your hand here has a number of key bombs: 2 brainstorms, windfall, and bargain.  If you windfall for 5, youre dumping a number of key bombs without a good enough chance of seeing that same quality of threats and, in addition, your giving your opponent a chance to just untap

[ErkBek]

I watched that game.  Why did you give him the Mystical and the BS anyways, rather than the Gifts+Scroll that I figured you would?

If I gave him Gifts and scroll he would have a higher chance of recovering from pitching a card to play FoW. Maybe I'm missing something, but why would I give him these?

[Purple Hat]

why the mystical at all?  why not like brainstorm/scroll?  it seems like scroll is far more restrictive of his game plan as he now can't get will or tinker.

[ErkBek]

why the mystical at all?  why not like brainstorm/scroll?  it seems like scroll is far more restrictive of his game plan as he now can't get will or tinker.

Scroll could find him another FoW without card disadvantage. I presumed he could FoW my windfall, then possibly scroll up another FoW and protect it with Reb (all within a turn). Or he could play the combo route and find ancestral. I wasn't afraid of Will or tinker in the current gamestate.

[Smmenen]

I watched that game.  Why did you give him the Mystical and the BS anyways, rather than the Gifts+Scroll that I figured you would?

If I gave him Gifts and scroll he would have a higher chance of recovering from pitching a card to play FoW. Maybe I'm missing something, but why would I give him these?

As I said, i'd give him scroll and gifts because gifts is slow and scroll requires that he dig out a fow next turn and then pitch a blue spell to use it.  Your applying pressure.  Mystical and Brainstorm give him the abillity to dig and combo out.  He can upkeep mystical for time walk and then brainstorm into some insane shit and just combo you out befor eyou even get another turn, but more likely after you get one more and a final turn.

With Gifts and Scroll, you get so much info

if he mainphase scrolls for fow, you know he doesn't have drain and you just play your shit and empty his hand and then you are still in good shape since you are both in todpeck mode.  He'll have to pitch the gifts to his fow, likely.  There is a chance that the gifts player will be stupid and scroll for Ancestral too, in which case you just win.

In my view, its about tempo.  He can play the mystical and brainstorm easily and efficiently and dig, but the other spells are slightly more cumbersome.  You want to leverage your power into time and you can't do that if you give him the most efficient spells, even if the efficient spells are weaker, which they aren't here. 

[Smmenen]

My read of the situation was then spot on.

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t really matter in my view how many FoW they have, turn one Brainstorm is still far and away the correct turn one play.   I understand why you made that play though – it takes a lot of experience to know and understand basic questions like: Windfall v. Brainstorm.   Repeatedly, experience has shown that Braisntorm is correct. 

My original response said:

I'd have to write two pages on the functionality of windfall, brainstorm, and threat density to adequately explain the reasoning on why Grin Long should play brainstorm here.

Then I went onto explain myself:

Your hand here has a number of key bombs: 2 brainstorms, windfall, and bargain.  If you windfall for 5, youre dumping a number of key bombs without a good enough chance of seeing that same quality of threats and, in addition, your giving your opponent a chance to just untap

holy crap, half of my post here got cut off.  I wasn't just posting to say how great i was.

what i was saying before it got cut off was that hte number of fows in their hand was not relevant to the question of the correct play here: i.e. windfall v. brainstorm.

Here's why:

A) If they have 3 FoWs, then they can atmost use two.

You can play turn one brainstorm, turn one windfall, LET them FoW it and do not fow protect it OR you can fOW protect it, but i wouldn't.  Then turn two, you'll likely be able to play Bargain with FOW backup with the cards you saw with brainstorm, Crypt, - all you need is a land and a rit.  Or, you may see some other card you can play. 

If they draw another FoW on their draw step, that means no second land, so you won't have to worry about that.  Their hand is overly clogged with fows and they will need to slowo the game down and spread it out, but hte problem is that they are not developing their board state.

B) if they have 2 FOWs, its the same as above.

C) If they have 1 FoW, they will FoW the Windfall on turn one (after you b-stormed), and you'll let their FoW resolve.  Windfall will have served its purpose in baiting out countemagic.  But it will be the same as B becuase they'll likely be able to find another counterpell.  If they only have 1 fow, then there is an increased chance they have Drain.  LIkwise, they could scroll for FoW, so either way, you are going to be playing through double fow.

no matter what, you are going to be fighting multiple fow, the number of fows is not relevant to the question of the correct play at issue. 

I want to emphasize though that Grim Long should win this game most of the time.

[Gabethebabe]

Kobefan: Since we have already quite some material on how to play this hand from the GL side, could you inform us what the dude had in his hand when he Gifted?
Just wondering which 4 cards he should have gifted for...

[ErkBek]

Kobefan: Since we have already quite some material on how to play this hand from the GL side, could you inform us what the dude had in his hand when he Gifted?
Just wondering which 4 cards he should have gifted for...

I wish I could say I remembered. I was very suprised when my windfall resolved. At that point I felt completely out of the loop on the game. I remember him discarding 1 land and 4 blue spells and that's about it.

[Purple Hat]

why the mystical at all?  why not like brainstorm/scroll?  it seems like scroll is far more restrictive of his game plan as he now can't get will or tinker.

Scroll could find him another FoW without card disadvantage. I presumed he could FoW my windfall, then possibly scroll up another FoW and protect it with Reb (all within a turn). Or he could play the combo route and find ancestral. I wasn't afraid of Will or tinker in the current gamestate.

I'm just thinking since he can make all the plays he'd make with merchant scroll with an upkeep mystical, + he can make a bunch more plays, why not give him the mearchant scroll and force him into taking an instant?

[ErkBek]

why the mystical at all?  why not like brainstorm/scroll?  it seems like scroll is far more restrictive of his game plan as he now can't get will or tinker.

Scroll could find him another FoW without card disadvantage. I presumed he could FoW my windfall, then possibly scroll up another FoW and protect it with Reb (all within a turn). Or he could play the combo route and find ancestral. I wasn't afraid of Will or tinker in the current gamestate.

I'm just thinking since he can make all the plays he'd make with merchant scroll with an upkeep mystical, + he can make a bunch more plays, why not give him the mearchant scroll and force him into taking an instant?

Well, I was thinking about cards he can use to find FoW, as well as pitch to support the FoW's. If he was to FoW my Windfall he would be down to 3 cards in hand. Then if he plays MT during his upkeep he will stay at 3 cards, so my bargain "should" resolve.

[Purple Hat]

fair enough.  makes sense to me.

[Smmenen]

Considering your options with grim long:

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11708.html

this article will be available for free in two weeks

I bring it up becuase I still have NO IDEA what the correct play is with the last hand.

[Gabethebabe]

Since I don´t have premium - what IS that last hand?

[rureddy31]

City of Brass
Brainstorm
Mox Jet
Sol Ring
Imperial Seal
Demonic Tutor
Grim Tutor

I think Stephen made the right play. Brainstorm, before anything else. He saw:

Dark Ritual
Wheel of Fortune
Time Walk

from the brainstorm. I'd put back Time Walk and Grim Tutor. Imperial Seal for Black Lotus. Play Jet and Sol Ring. Your hand is now:

Demonic, Wheel, Dark Ritual.

Turn 2 you draw the lotus.

Play Ritual before anything, off the Jet. It should resolve. If it doesn't you play the lotus. If that resolves, you should be free to Demonic for ritual to up your storm, and cast Wheel with three black floating and 5 spells played. If the Ritual and Lotus resolve but the Wheel is countered, you Demonic for Necro.

I think thats the best line of play. It beats Force of Will, but admitedly loses to Mana Drain AND Force or Double Force. In the article, someone suggested this line of play, but just slightly different. #1, they didn't play Sol Ring which I think is a mistake. That extra one coloured mana is crucial (you need the jet to play the ring), more important than a storm count of two.

Secondly, the person would have you lead off with Necro, expecting it to get countered, and cast Wheel afterwards, but with no mana floating (one if you played Ring the turn before), but without laying a land. If you cast wheel first, you can cast DT for Necro with an empty pool, or have the Wheel resolve with a full one. That line is a little more win-win. Besides, it is probably more important that you have Necro resolve after a Force of Will, than Wheel resolving with not much mana in pool.

My 2 cents.

[ashiXIII]

What about this six card hand, on the play, against an unknown opponent:
 Sea
 Dark Ritual
 Demonic
 I Seal
 Xantid Swarm
Ancestral


I think the correct opening is to play the Ancestral, but assuming that gets countered (which is very likely as your opponent won't know what you're playing, and going Sea -> Recall is a strong signal for either CS or Gifts) I wasn't really sure where to go with the hand. Assuming I draw nothing of relevance on turn 2, I can Demonic and Seal, or just Seal. I'm really not sure what to get, though. Opinions?

[Tin_Mox5831]

OK, let's see here....Time for yet another Grim Long migraine.  Seriously, Stephen, you and Paul should get an endorsement deal from Excedrin!

As far as the article scenario goes, here's what pops into my head (It's unconventional, but it appears very powerful.) :

Turn 1:
City Of Brass -> Brainstorm, Put back Grim Tutor then Wheel Of Fortune, Mox Jet, Imperial Seal -> Mind's Desire, Pass.

Turn 2:
Dark Ritual off Mox Jet, Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus, Black Lotus, Lotus -> UUU, City Of Brass -> B, Mind's Desire for 5.

I really think this is a good line of play versus control, as they are likely on tilt at this point. They have no idea what to counter. Do they counter Dark Ritual? Probably not. Sol Ring will resolve. Demonic Tutor will likely resolve, as they'd rather counter the target and 3-for-1 you. Will they counter Black Lotus? Perhaps, but I think they are picturing Yawgmoth's Will at this point and will hold off in hopes of countering that. Given that assumption, Mind's Desire is going to be a real kick in the teeth.

For ashiXIII's scenario, I think I'd want to play it like so:

If my opponent appears to be inexperienced, I'd go with this:

Turn 1:
Underground Sea -> Ancestral Recall, It's likely countered. If so, Pass.

Turn 2:
Imperial Seal -> Black Lotus, If I saw a land, play it. If it's a rainbow land -> Xantid Swarm, Pass.

Turn 3:
Swing with Xantid, win uncontested.

If they are presumably a better player, I'd go with:

Turn 1:
Underground Sea -> Imperial Seal -> Black Lotus, Pass.

Turn 2:
Black Lotus, If it resolves -> BBB, Dark Ritual, Ancestral Recall, If I see any mana, Play the mana source(s), Demonic Tutor -> Yawgmoth's Will, Black Lotus -> BBB, Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor -> Tendrils Of Agony, Ancestral Recall if needed for Storm (i.e. The mana source from Ancestral #1 was a land.), Tendrils Of Agony for lethal.

Ancestral Recall is the spell that Grim Long baits with the most, and the better players know that. This line of play shows an aggressive bait move when facing less experienced opponents and a very strong plan for the better players which presents many escape points should you have to audible into a new plan. You never really have to go "all-in" against the better players, and that's the beauty of this plan.

Later,
Dave

[Gabethebabe]

OK, let's see here....Time for yet another Grim Long migraine.  Seriously, Stephen, you and Paul should get an endorsement deal from Excedrin!

As far as the article scenario goes, here's what pops into my head (It's unconventional, but it appears very powerful.) :

Turn 1:
City Of Brass -> Brainstorm, Put back Grim Tutor then Wheel Of Fortune, Mox Jet, Imperial Seal -> Mind's Desire, Pass.

Turn 2:
Dark Ritual off Mox Jet, Sol Ring, Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus, Black Lotus, Lotus -> UUU, City Of Brass -> B, Mind's Desire for 5.

That play is really weak. Of course they´ve seen you tutor and they´ve heard of Mind´s Desire and of course Lotus is going to get countered. And in case they don´t have counters you do "only" a MD of 5.

[MaxxMatt]

City of Brass
Brainstorm
Mox Jet
Sol Ring
Imperial Seal
Demonic Tutor
Grim Tutor

I think Stephen made the right play. Brainstorm, before anything else. He saw:
Dark Ritual
Wheel of Fortune
Time Walk
From the brainstorm. I'd put back Time Walk and Grim Tutor. Imperial Seal for Black Lotus. Play Jet and Sol Ring. Your hand is now:
Demonic, Wheel, Dark Ritual.
Turn 2 you draw the lotus.
Play Ritual before anything, off the Jet. It should resolve. If it doesn't you play the lotus. If that resolves, you should be free to Demonic for ritual to up your storm, and cast Wheel with three black floating and 5 spells played. If the Ritual and Lotus resolve but the Wheel is countered, you Demonic for Necro.

Thanks for posting the initial hand and let me check the Brainstorm cards' too.

In a completely opponent's dependant way, that hand can be considered unplayable or extremely good.
Three tutors and not too many stable mana fonts would not help you too much.
The only lucky aspect is that you are on the play, so you HAVE to establish a good position NOW without expecting turn2, when things can become impossible to resolve.

If I'm not aware of my opponent, I would probably follow your path.
I can consider that nothing would harm me in the next turn and prepare my unstable hand to probably play a good sequence of spells and win.

On the other hand, after Brainstorm and Tutors, opponents can expect a lot from you.
As soon as they play CotV@0 or Trinisphere or Wires or Duress or pass with U1 open or hold a FoW in hand, you are pretty fucked because your plan cannot apply.



Expecting hate from my opponent, I would play in a different way. I would suppose that my next turn board would not have the land too and/or I should pay more than needed to resolve spells, or see a couple of things countered.

Thinking in this way, let me write about playing this safer path:




Turn 1. CoB, Jet, Demonic --> Sapphire. Tap for Sol Ring. My remaining hand would consist of I.Seal, Brainstorm, Grim Tutor.

From this position, aside some game ending plays such as Wasteland + Null Rod, I have the needed amount of mana to both optimize spells and chain tutors in order to find and resolve bombs.
If I untap untouched, I have almost my search spells in hand and 5 mana on table.
If I got the land wasted, I would have 4 mana left.

That is huge to fuel second turn broken plays.

My turn 2 can change a lot if:
1) Land got destroyed.
2) Rod hit board
3) Opponent resolved no hate.

Weighting these different scenarios would be possible only if I can know the future cards.


For example.
I didn't Brainstormed turn 1.
I would draw Dark Ritual turn 2.
My possibly best play can be ( if I am at point 3)):

Turn 2. I'll Brainstorm, tapping Sapphire, I will see Walk, Wheel and "CardX".
I would resolve Walk and then Ritual into Grim Tutor. With the last black mana I would resolve I.Seal.

If they counter Walk, you can try to resolve Wheel of a Lotus with a colorless mana in pool
If they let you resolve anything, I think that a couple of different paths can be followed, depending on your opponent.

Duress+Bomb can be enough to win against aggro-control decks
Minds'Desire or Necro or Bargain shoul dbe played if you feel that you would not be hated too much during your next turns
X.Swarm plus Wheel  would help you win against pure control decks


A lot of things are dependent on which cards you would draw, but, supporting my thesis, I can assure you that this way of dealing with opponent possible moves, is far more foresighting than trying to chain spells faster than him, especially because he CAN have tools to completely stop you from playing anything independently by your own moves.

The play that I suggested during my first turn, would usually not harm your opponent, he would not counter anything you did and contemporarily it put you in a more difficul to hate position in his first turn.

Even the Turn 2. plays, barring the lucky draw of TIME WALK, can help you strategically speaking, far more than winnig.
You adjusted your hand, your board and you have focused you win far more better and in a more stable way, rather than blindly play your tutor hoping that nothing would happen harming you.

MaxxMatt

[b-tings]

City of Brass
Brainstorm
Mox Jet
Sol Ring
Imperial Seal
Demonic Tutor
Grim Tutor

I think Stephen made the right play. Brainstorm, before anything else. He saw:

Dark Ritual
Wheel of Fortune
Time Walk

from the brainstorm.

I want this hand to win, or put itself in position to win (eg Necro on the table, reset the grip) no later than turn 2, to minimize the chance of running into multiple disruption spells against Fish, Stax, anything with counters, etc. Aside from Stax, these decks really have a tough time getting proactive disruption spells online turn one, and can usually muster at best one reactive disruption spell, FoW, by then. Those are the odds I would put myself up against with no outside information (for those of us who aren't good enough to focus on stuff like body cues and still play our deck): How do I win turn two through a FoW?

I'm assuming we're against an unknown opponent. The relevant plays without knowing another card are: Brainstorm followed by Imperial Seal, Imperial Seal followed by Brainstorm, either one of these followed by Sol Ring, or Sol Ring followed by Demonic Tutor for X, which may lead to another series of plays if x = Black Lotus or some other mana source. All of these plays, except for Imperial Seal followed by Brainstorm, point towards turn two wins. If we use Imperial Seal to fetch Lotus, and then Brainstorm into Lotus, this hand could potentially turn into a turn one win if we see a Dark Ritual as well, allowing for: Seal -> Lotus, BS into Lotus Ritual X, putting back Grim Tutor and X, Lotus Ritual Sol Ring Demonic Tutor for Will Will Floating one, easy turn one win. This requires a Dark Ritual within two cards, and our opponent to not have FoW, though, so I'd consider this play suboptimal.

Sol Ring followed by Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus intrigues me, because you can cast both Grim Tutor and Imperial Seal on turn one, giving you a mighty powerful set of options and setting you up for what appears to be a ridiculous Will on turn two, and one that would not be vulnerable to an opposing Duress. Your powerful turn two Will is, however, short a mana or a storm if you Grim Tutor for Duress and, well, short a duress if you Grim Tutor for a mana element of some kind. Turn two unprotected win doesn't really seem that sexy given the number of options this hand has.

Ultimately, this hand is short on one element or the other if you lean on just the tutors to find exactly what you need, which leads me towards turn one Brainstorm; not itself a key element of comboing off, but it will likely turn itself into one of the key elements you need, making your tutoring paths more clear. Brainstorm is a semi-random element, and it's better to sort that out before you tutor rather than after, so you know for certain what the hand needs to win. The Brainstorm is made so much stronger by the fact that you can still I. Seal on turn one, getting rid of things you don't need and finding things you do.

Seeing the cards Steve saw, I followed a few of the pathways and keep coming up either a mana or a storm short of turn two Will with Duress backup. This was, of course, my first reaction to looking at these cards, since my ability to play Tendrills is more or less restricted to "Fuh Fuh Fuh tutor for Yawgmoth's Will," something that severely hampers my ability to play decks like Grim Long with, you know, other threats.

Anyway, I digress. The point is, Will does not appear to be a viable pathway with this hand given the parameters I set for myself at the beginning, to put myself in a position to win turn two through a FoW. We may have to reset those parameters given our options, but this hand looks like it has enough power to be able to do SOMETHING ridiculous on turn two.

The first thing that jumps out at me immediately is that, if we're not going to cast Imperial Seal right now, we either have to get rid of it, or keep a hand that includes both Sol Ring and Time Walk, in order to make it effective before our opponent gets a swipe at a second land. Time Walk + Imperial Seal looks like a mana free tutor, but it's also a storm free tutor, it costs us a card, and it severely hampers what we keep from our Brainstorm.

Now that we have Dark Ritual, we can support Grim Tutor without having it tie up our entire ability to play spells during the turn. However, it's still a very expensive way to find the card we need. We can also stil play out the Demonic Tutor -> Black Lotus -> Sol Ring -> Grim Tutor + I. Seal plan. Alternatively, we can put back I. Seal and Time Walk, and use the two Tutors for Black Lotus and Duress, using Duress to push through Wheel. This seems like an awful lot of work for a Wheel with one mana open, but unlike rureddy31's play, falls under the parameters I've set for myself.

Given that this hand doesn't look like it can simply bend the opponent over the table on turn two, I think my play of choice would be putting back I. Seal and Time Walk, casting Ritual, Sol Ring, Grim Tutor for Duress, and pass. This leaves you with B2x next turn for mana, and a hand of Duress, Demonic Tutor, and Wheel of Fortune. Next turn, I would Duress, garnering more information about the opponent's hand, and, depending on what I saw, reset my parameters to adapt to my opponent's capabilities. This could include Tutoring up Lotus and Casting Wheel floating a kind of junky R mana, or baiting with Wheel if our opponent shows us the stones, probably involving Recall in response to Duress, and Force + more gas that requires us to get some blue cards out of their hand before they steamroll us. Alternatively, I could put back Sol Ring and Grim Tutor, cast Ritual Demonic Tutor for Duress and I. Seal for Lotus, putting myself firmly on the Wheel plan right now, in exchange for having mana of my choice available rather than R after resolving a turn two Wheel. Neither of these plays seem absolutely fantastic from my perspective, but I don't have enough experience with Grim Long to know whether or not Wheel with 1 mana of any colour and no land drop yet this turn is good enough on turn two. Any opinions on this from players more experienced with the deck?

The other alternative along my parameters is to put back Grim tutor and Time Walk, Ritual into Demonic Tutor for Lotus, drop Lotus. If it resolves, RRR, Sol Ring, Wheel floating RB. If it's countered, Imperial Seal for Lion's Eye Diamond. Next turn, Sol Ring, LED, Wheel floating BBB and any Will at this point goes nuclear. If the Lotus resolves and the Wheel is countered, you end up casting Imperial Seal, fetching Ancestral Recall, and casting a turn two recall with B2 available to you that turn. This is a more aggressive approach, and exchanges some degree of certainty in forcing through your Wheel for a much more powerful Wheel if your opponent doesn't have the Force, giving them an unmulliganable hand, and giving you information about what they're playing and what they have left, leading to what they might have in their hand. This is the approach I would take in a Stax heavy metagame, or if my opponent had mulliganed without much consideration, something I'd take as a sign of a more aggressive combo or Stax deck, rather than something more likely to have Force. This approach also becomes weaker the further into a tournament you get, as you're less likely to run into players keeping weak hands, players playing poor decks, etc., although you should have a better scouting report on your opponent by then. Much of the strength of this play also depends on exactly how strong the Recall backup plan is, something that I would again require more experience to comment on.

All in all, independant of any of the tournament factors, I would probably go for the final plan, but this is a product of a more aggressive stance and probably overvaluing Ancestral Recall to some degree. Thoughts?

[Bongo]

Following situation:

Opponent's deck is unknown (it might contain Force of Will), game 1, I'm on the play. I drew:

Mox Jet
Demonic Tutor
Hurkyl's Recall
Timetwister
Mana Crypt
Mox Sapphire
Imperial Seal


How do I play this hand?

[Smmenen]

Assuming I'm playing against a Drain deck. 

Play Jet
Play Sapphire
Play Mana Crypt

Tap Jet and Mana Crypt.

Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus (or Tolarian Academy).

Tap Sapphire use last mana crypt mana to play Hurkyl's Recall on self. 

Replay 3 accellerants and Lotus. 

Tap Sapphire and Crypt to play Timetwister.  If it is countered, play Imperial Seal off Jet for Yawgmoth's Will for an easy turn two win.  That way you set up for an easy turn one win if they don't have fow, but if they do, you are still in great shape for turn two win.   

[Gabethebabe]

I would like to trick them into countering Hurkylls Recall or Demonic Tutor

If I start:

Sapphire, Crypt, Jet
Announce I tap all and play Hurkyll´s with 1B floating.
opponent might FoW

Replay all your mana and play Demonic Tutor
Opponent might FoW, fearing you have Tolarian Academy of Desire already in hand and go for the other one.

Get Tolarian Academy (better than lotus I think) and play it
Tap Sapphire and Crypt for Timetwister,with Jet and Tolarian untapped.

Sure they will FoW now or lose.

I think the subtle change in order or playing the things is that your opponent might consider to FoW too early, giving you more threats for turn 2.