Gush TPS: another look

[Liam-K]

Your sideboard's going to be pretty terrible without red.

[lordmayhem]

Your sideboard's going to be pretty terrible without red.

Probably. I realize you said your sideboard is outdated, but what red sideboard cards do you recommend? I know you mentioned Pyroclasm, but I usally play Massacre instead. Is there any reason you prefer Pyroclasm?

[Outlaw]

Your sideboard's going to be pretty terrible without red.

Probably. I realize you said your sideboard is outdated, but what red sideboard cards do you recommend? I know you mentioned Pyroclasm, but I usally play Massacre instead. Is there any reason you prefer Pyroclasm?

Massacre does not hit Magus of the Moon or Goblins!  U/w fish is not entirely big right now.

[ErkBek]

Check out Slaughter Pact guys. I kills Magus, Mindcensor, MM, and Teeg for 0 mana.

[lordmayhem]

Check out Slaughter Pact guys. I kills Magus, Mindcensor, MM, and Teeg for 0 mana.

Wouldn't it just suck if your opponent dropped a Magus after you played this?

Massacre does not hit Magus of the Moon or Goblins!  U/w fish is not entirely big right now.

Point made. I'll mess around a little with red when I have the time.

[Implacable]

Check out Slaughter Pact guys. I kills Magus, Mindcensor, MM, and Teeg for 0 mana.

Wouldn't it just suck if your opponent dropped a Magus after you played this?

Yeah, that would suck, but you play it during their end-step, so it doesn't seem like a big deal.

I am definitely going to be checking out Slaughter Pact.  It seems like the card I was looking for.

[ErkBek]

Check out Slaughter Pact guys. I kills Magus, Mindcensor, MM, and Teeg for 0 mana.

Wouldn't it just suck if your opponent dropped a Magus after you played this?

Massacre does not hit Magus of the Moon or Goblins!  U/w fish is not entirely big right now.

Point made. I'll mess around a little with red when I have the time.

Well, the main idea of slaughter pact is to play it on your combo turn and kill them that turn. That way your net mana investment to kill the creature is 0.

[Liam-K]

Slaughter Pact looks good.  Fire/Ice's scrollability as spot removal makes it awesome, and pyroclasm's ability to kill more than 1 critter has definitely saved my ass, but free is nothing to shake a stick at.

REBs are also hard to replace.  I have an Ancient Grudge in the board as well, which has performed but could be Oxidize.

[lordmayhem]

I'll admit I'm a bit skeptical about Slaughter Pact. kobefan, how many do you run in your side? I'd like to give it a try and see what its like.

The more you guys talk about red, the more convinced I am that its the right move due to the side.
How many Volcanics are the right number to support the 4th colour?

Also, is it necessary to run Time Walk just because we run Warrens? Is Warrens really a good idea if your meta is filled with cards that tap sideways (a la Dryads, Togs, Fish Critters)?

[ErkBek]

I'll admit I'm a bit skeptical about Slaughter Pact. kobefan, how many do you run in your side? I'd like to give it a try and see what its like.

I don't play this deck, just sharing some tech I discovered a while back.

REBs are also hard to replace.  I have an Ancient Grudge in the board as well, which has performed but could be Oxidize.

Reb's technically could become Thoughtseizes, but yeah I know it's not the same since that's proactive instead of reactive. I'm a little confused about boarding Grudge and Oxidizes. I would think this deck would benefit most from boarding something like (let's say I'm just UB)

4 Leyline
2 Jailer/Needle
3 Mana Drain
2 Thoughseize
3 Bounce
1 Slaughter Pact

Drain seems like a really useful tool this deck could utilize on the sideboard. Generally game 2's go a little longer and opponents overlook the chance you might be running mana drain after what they saw game 1, so you can snag something juicy. Even against other blue decks I'm certain you'll catch your opponents playing spells right into drain (largely since you have to be somewhat aggressive vs. combo control at times).

[Liam-K]

Thoughtseize might replace REB alright in a u/b side.

I'll admit drain in the board hadn't occurred to me, it would probably be a strong card against stax even though leaving UU up especially early costs a lot of tempo.  However, I really like having answers to artifacts that are on the table.  It often allows you to let something resolve which would otherwise want to counter and spend your tempo on your own gameplan, especially against any deck that isn't shop based (null rod, chalice/thorn in creature decks, tinker/platz, dreadnought).  Grudge's 2-for-1ness is absolutely backbreaking, too.

Nevertheless drains may have a place in the side.  I currently have 1 grudge, oxidize, hurkyl, echoing truth and 3 REB, some combination of which could be 2 drains.

[ErkBek]

I'll admit drain in the board hadn't occurred to me, it would probably be a strong card against stax even though leaving UU up especially early costs a lot of tempo.  However, I really like having answers to artifacts that are on the table.

When you mana drain a 2 - 4 mana threat the tempo swings hugely back in your favor.

[Liam-K]

It can be hard to spend 3+ colourless without leaving a mox untapped.  Drain's great, don't get me wrong, but it's not going to be "gifts for U, how good" every time.

[Liam-K]

I've left this deck alone for a while, but picked it back up just recently.  The fact people want to play Super Long makes me think it's still a reasonable choice.  I plan on getting to know super long and comparing the two if I find time... but I really do urge people to see what my list can do, I promise it's good.

ETW is in for a test run, against my usual instincts.  Stax in the meta and the prevalence of creatures make me want to see if it's good.  So far, it seems to be, as long as you're smart enough not to blow your load on it when your opponent has outs... try to make it cost your opponent more resources to stop than it cost you to ramp rather than push your chips on.  A dark ritual is out to fit it... I like 2 rituals and they are synergistic with etw, but it's the most cuttable card.  1 is still great for gifts and I'm happy to see it show up almost all the time.

Somewhere along the line Night's Whisper got cut for a fetch.  This seems like the right call.  13 islands + loa feels more stable than ever and not like too much.  To be honest lately, loa has felt less than omgzbroken, though I'm not ready to test without it yet.  More and more I feel like it just slows me down, or else takes up a card in my opening hand I don't want to use, or else makes me keep a hand without enough coloured mana.  But not always, sometimes it's ridiculous.

Drains were in the board for a while before I stopped messing with it.  They seem to make some sense but may be better as something else depending on your overall sideboard plan.  Sideboards are not my strength so I won't recommend either way.

for reference:

mana

4 flooded strand
3 polluted delta
2 underground sea
2 island
1 tropical island
1 volcanic island

1 mox sapphire
1 mox jet
1 mox ruby
1 mox emerald
1 mana crypt

1 black lotus
1 lotus petal
1 dark ritual

1 fastbond



staying in the game

4 force of will
4 duress
2 misdirection
1 chain of vapor
1 echoing truth

4 brainstorm
4 gush
4 merchant scroll
1 ancestral recall
1 regrowth

1 time walk



ending the game

1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 mystical tutor
1 imperial seal

1 yawgmoth's will
1 timetwister
1 wheel of fortune
1 gifts ungiven
1 library of alexandria

1 tendrils of agony
1 empty the warrens

[breed]

Your list seems really good, but with the more and more 9 spheres decks, I'm not sure that Gush TPS is still good to play. Also, did you try Ponder in it? Also what about Thoughtseize?