The European Storm and Bonus tournament report

[Marske]

I'm intrigued by the Top/Repeal draw engine.  Seems very, very good in today's field.

It is, the fact that Repeal / Top and Confidant are in this deck makes you draw a shit ton of cards advancing your own game plan in the process. It's actually plays like Repealing an opposing Confidant which help gain slightly incremental bursts in CA which make this deck such a beast to play against.

Also, even though there is a ton more aggro in Europe, I still love Spell Pierce.  That card seems amazing.  As you know what the field is like over there, I'll take your word that it's strictly worse than Drain there.

Spell pierce while good in theory doesn't help the deck stop the things it's really worried about, although it might make the storm mirror a bit better.

[MaxxMatt]

A topic I want to adress is the side board for an UB Build.
At this moment I think in the line of the following cards:

Suppose to play a list similar to the one masrke proposed at the beginning of the topic.
My own fifteen cards sideboard list will contain ( at now ):

2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Plague Spitter
2 Hurkyll's Recall
2 Echoing Truth
2 Thoughtsize
2 Extirpate
2 Duress
1 Darkblast

I usually don't switch too many cards against well known opponents, unless they are playing some narrow or hatable decks. Anytime I need too many cards to face a deck, I retrospectively find my sideboard choices weird or unfocused.

Duress, Thoughtsize ( possibly Exirpate ) enter in against Tezz, Oath & TPS
Grave Hate against Dragon & Ichorid
PlagueS, ETruth & Darkblast versus Bant, Fish, Beatz
HRecall, Darkblast (& only if opponents have enough redundancy: ETruth ) vs. 2c.Stax, 5c.Stax, WelderMUD, MUD

With possibly the most versatile and flexible cards' choices available for black & blue, I tried to cover different matchups with focused helps: UB version of EuroTPS are solid; they are not going to need too many cards or change too much when facing opponents. I can adapt well the major game plan with minor changes ( such as up to 5 or 6 cards ).

My plan is to add singolar cards capable of dealing with multiple threats trading themselves with a lot of opponents cards.
With this porpouse in mind I choose:

* grave hate*
among the cards able to deal with the most of opponents graveyard: winners are by far Crypts & Extirpate. Entire graves will be eaten in a single shot by TCrypts while Exirpate will shut up opponents winning routes when coupled or not with discarding effects

*control combo hate*
while Duress is my single last 1x1 sideboard card, both thoughtsize & extirpate can break opponents hands or defences. They are able to reach and deal with different ranges of threats, usually slowing them down more than you.

*artifact hate*
despite the fact maindeck proposed is largely able to interact with permanents and opponents board, a quick CotV@1 can be more than a walk in the part to deal with: with this fear in mind, I'll add multiple HRecall, spreading as much as I can the cc of my bouncers, leaving MUDs almost unable to softly lock me with chalices. A single bouncer will neutralize key parts of artifact.dec board. EoT bouncer usually put so much edge in your favour that even if you are forced to repeat the route twice or more in order to win it is simpler for you rather than opponents would consume to hard lock you.

*aggro hate*
I may had made some unusual choices but I will underline here how strong they are for me: instead of stealing creatures from opponents board, I resolve plague spitter with different porpourses. It has a nice body, selfresistant to his own ability, it will instantly kill all the fairies, weenies & elders all around, when killed can erase 2/2 creatures, it isn't ReBable and will help you to shorten your storm routine. It seems great to me. Board will be emptied and only greater attackers will remain untouched: ETruth & Bouncers will completely shut opponents down. Couple them with Darkblast and you'll have a recurring nightmare for Aggro and Aggrocontrol decks.



When you couple

I'm intrigued by the Top/Repeal draw engine.  Seems very, very good in today's field.

with

Also, even though there is a ton more aggro AND aggrocontrol in Europe, I still love Spell Pierce.  That card seems amazing.  As you know what the field is like over there, I'll take your word that it's strictly worse than Drain there.

You'll soon realize how better will be dealing since game 1 with board instead of spells adding more *spells devoted* sideboard cards during game 2&3.
Barring opponents nearly unstoppable first/second turn wins, you'll be happy to deal with enchantments, creatures & lock pieces ( I'm supposing it will be far more difficult to stop opponents threats from being resolved rather then dealing with them when on battlefield ) with bouncers, blockers & permanents. Counting that Null Rod is one of the most frequent and far more threatening among them, I strongly reccommend you  not to rely too much on Top/Key/Vault and to use them only as subsidiary drawing/winning tools. Again, Spell Pierce need the correct timing to be effective and become a dead draw when opponents start resolving spells before you caught into it. It is correct to think about being able to win even if opponents resolve their threats rather than playing through them such as in the past.

MaxxMatt

[Zieby]

Hi I want to give you guys a brief report on my Top 8 with Repeal Tendrils at the Dutch Nationals.
First I give you my deck list and the some small thoughts behind the list and SB. Then I will give a small report and some reflections on my games.

The Deck:
Draw [11]
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Frantic Search
1 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Gush
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Timetwister
 
Control Suite [09]
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection
1 Mind Twist

Bounce Suite [05]
3 Repeal
1 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor

Tutors [07]
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Kill [04]
1 Sphinx of the Steelwind
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key

Acceleration [09]
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

lands [15]
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria

SB:
2 Psychatog
2 Old Man of the Sea
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Darkblast
1 Perish
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Extirpate
2 Thoughtseize
3 Ravenous Trap

About the Main deck, I only changed the Ponder to Timetwister, because after testing with Spell Pierce and other cards I wasn’t sure what list preformed better, and this list was performing well during the last tournament I played it in. I do not know if the change from Ponder to Timetwister was the correct one. It generates a way to put the Sphinx from your hand back into your deck when needed and to fill up your hand but it also gives your opponent a fresh 7. The second Pro is that it protects you from discard on Will, but that is not the only card that wins you the games. So I'm not convinced for the future if it was correct.

In the SB I changed the Ichorid packet to 5 because I wasn't expecting more then 2 Ichorid players (I was right about that) and added an extra Perish for the Gxx-Beats decks (It swept the board ones, but didn't win me the game). I was blown away bye the first stax player but a swallowed the second one. All in all I think the Bitter Blossoms will be played in the next version, because this deck can control the game for a very long time before winning is inevitable for you.

So the tournament
Round 1: Peter with Stax,

Game 1: He is a good player and after he made top 4 in Breda last time with Selkie and his comments on the deck, I knew that he was playing Stax or TPS. I know the decks are way apart from each other but those are his favorites. I open a Hand with 3 land some control and some draw. When I looked at the cards my first reaction was, good for stax and also for TPS so I keep. He proceeds to put me in a turn 2 Titan Welder lock with a Turn 3 Trini. I didn’t had the Fow for the welder and was to late with the mana for repealing him.
Game 2: Ok Stax. I board the Old Man’s, Tog’s, Blast and H-Recall. I Fan a 1 lander in my hand, it was underground sea with no moxen. 2x Top Fow, TW and some other cards.
Should I mull………




I mulled because  1 wasteland or strip would destroy my changes…I had 3 lands on top so it would be all good but instead I mull to 6……

No Lander with no jewels.

Mull to 5, 1 land Fow and other stuff but he starts with first turn smokestack (Fowed) with 5 permanents in play and followed that with a welder and a tangle wire. So I scooped because I would never come out of this lock.

W-L-D = 0-1-0

Round 2: Molle with Stax.
Game 1: Is very slow with me drawing allot of crap and he draws some land and Junk I can counter. After a few more turns I combo with Toa.
Game 2: I start strong with mana and lands and in turn 4, I can Tinker for Sphinx. He closes the deal.

W-L-D = 1-1-0

Round 3: Frank with Drain Tendrils
Game 1: I really liked playing him because he performs very well with his version of Drain Tendrils in the last few months. First game I can control the game from the start and Top-Repeal shines in the card advantage. With a big Graveyard I can will for the ToA kill.
Game 2: I can’t recall it fully but I know I get behind in cards and he extirpates my Drains at a moment. I scoop for on a very large will. I he would make it or not wasn’t clear but due time and the fact he would at least draw 10 cards I thought I could better use the time in game 3.
Game 3: This game starts with the ancestral that I can misdirect and from there I take over the game. I also extirpate his ancestral with Regrowth on the stack. After the 5th turn we where both building our hands, I had Top in play and build the massive hand that could not lose in a million years. Then I went for it and won with 5 min on the clock.
W-L-D = 2-1-0

Round 4: Johan with Grow (menedians list)
This guy is a aggro control player by hart and I knew this wouldn’t be a walk in the park.
Game 1: deck check… carp. Ok we wait for 12 min. Then I proceed to win after 40 minutes or something with sphinx. We both controlled each other but couldn’t win. This was a very nice game but really exhausting.
Game 2: After a long game we end in the extra turns and I made a mistake not to Tinker but to play Tog fairing the counter. If I had tinkered I would have won the game. Now it was a draw.

W-L-D = 2-1-1

Round 5: Mirrin with Bgrw Beats.
A nice guy with an aggro deck,
Game 1: I tinker for sphinx in turn 2 after the mystical for it and control from there, bye the time he found his answer I found the Fow.
Game 2: I play first turn Old man, he edicts the Old man and proceed to play confidant. I play Sower and take the game from there.

W-L-D = 3-1-1

I’m in top 8.
David with Madness
Game 1: I win of a very weird turn that leads to an tendrils for 10 witch he counters 1 copy. Then I can easy take the time to control the game and tinker for Sphinx.
Game 2 and 3 are both his. I board in correct and make errors during the complete game. At this point the fact I didn’t eat and drink during the day was taking his price.

The deck played as a star and I’m going to play it again. Maybe now it is time for those SP when Storm is at it’s peak in Holland.

Thanks for reading, and if you have some comments on the SB regarding the Oath, Stax and Fish matchups please do….

Greetz Arjan

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

I have a few questions regarding your report:

I open a Hand with 3 land some control and some draw. When I looked at the cards my first reaction was, good for stax and also for TPS so I keep. He proceeds to put me in a turn 2 Titan Welder lock with a Turn 3 Trini. I didn’t had the Fow for the welder and was to late with the mana for repealing him.

Do you remember what else was in the hand?  I am curious as to how it could have been good against both TPS and Stax if it didn't have Fow.

Game 1: deck check… carp. Ok we wait for 12 min. Then I proceed to win after 40 minutes or something with sphinx. We both controlled each other but couldn’t win. This was a very nice game but really exhausting.
Game 2: After a long game we end in the extra turns and I made a mistake not to Tinker but to play Tog fairing the counter. If I had tinkered I would have won the game. Now it was a draw.

If you went to time Game 2, after winning game 1, how was it a draw?  Did you lose in extra turns somehow?

Regarding the deck:
Would you be able to explain your reasoning on including, for example, Frantic Search, Gush, and Skeletal Scrying instead of 3 Dark Confidant?  Was this a meta call or simply because you think instant speed draw has more synergy with the deck?  

More specifically, how did Gush and Frantic Search perform?  I like Skeletal Scrying but have always found the other 2 to be lackluster in DT.

Thanks for reading, and if you have some comments on the SB regarding the Oath, Stax and Fish matchups please do….

Annul or Spell Pierce could be good sb options against Stax and Oath, since they allow you to cheaply counter early threats before Drain comes online.  I also think you want at least 1 more Hurkyl's for Stax to make sure you can see a mass bounce spell reliably.

For Fish/Aggro, if you are specifically worried about Goyf, you could try running Shriekmaw, although it is kind of useless in other matches (though I suppose it works on Iona since they will probably name Blue).

What are the Psychatogs for?

[Zieby]

I open a Hand with 3 land some control and some draw. When I looked at the cards my first reaction was, good for stax and also for TPS so I keep. He proceeds to put me in a turn 2 Titan Welder lock with a Turn 3 Trini. I didn’t had the Fow for the welder and was to late with the mana for repealing him.

Do you remember what else was in the hand?  I am curious as to how it could have been good against both TPS and Stax if it didn't have Fow.

It had sufficient Mana, Draw and I could play a Mind twist for 4 at least by the second turn. I have to say that Stax was the first pick of me so with the 3 land in hand and one draw spell I thought I would be in a great position.

Game 1: deck check… carp. Ok we wait for 12 min. Then I proceed to win after 40 minutes or something with sphinx. We both controlled each other but couldn’t win. This was a very nice game but really exhausting.
Game 2: After a long game we end in the extra turns and I made a mistake not to Tinker but to play Tog fairing the counter. If I had tinkered I would have won the game. Now it was a draw.

If you went to time Game 2, after winning game 1, how was it a draw?  Did you lose in extra turns somehow?

He had an Inkwell and Goyf on the table and attacked for lethal next turn.
With Sphinx on the table I would have been the one that could attack twice for lethal.

Regarding the deck:
Would you be able to explain your reasoning on including, for example, Frantic Search, Gush, and Skeletal Scrying instead of 3 Dark Confidant?  Was this a meta call or simply because you think instant speed draw has more synergy with the deck?

Both, now Bob is played as main draw engine in almost all Blue decks, Darkblast is also in those decks. I really hate to see a Bob being blasted away before he gave me one card. The fact that he doesn’t give you a card directly, but over turns is a fact I dislike.
 

More specifically, how did Gush and Frantic Search perform?  I like Skeletal Scrying but have always found the other 2 to be lackluster in DT.

Of the 3 Instant draw spell Gush was the worst of them. It sets you back against Stax and Fish and it is a Big drain target, So I’m going to test another spell in this slot.
Frantic is great. The Untap 3 lands is very important and gives you an extra option to great black mana.
SS gives you basically 2+ cards at a moment you don’t need your mana for anything else.

Thanks for reading, and if you have some comments on the SB regarding the Oath, Stax and Fish matchups please do….

Annul or Spell Pierce could be good sb options against Stax and Oath, since they allow you to cheaply counter early threats before Drain comes online.  I also think you want at least 1 more Hurkyl's for Stax to make sure you can see a mass bounce spell reliably.

Those options are indeed the ones to consider, thx

For Fish/Aggro, if you are specifically worried about Goyf, you could try running Shriekmaw, although it is kind of useless in other matches (though I suppose it works on Iona since they will probably name Blue).

That is in my view to narrow, but thx for the suggestion.

What are the Psychatogs for?

For a wall against Fish, But he really did not perform as expected. This card is leaving the SB directly.

Thx for the detailed reply and I hope I was clear.

[MaxxMatt]

Hi all,

I'm here to integrate marske cool topic about EuroTPS with my own ( and possibly one of the last combinations of cards ) project, similar to EuroTPS, connected to AlmostBlue and sharing with EuroTPS goals & winning routine.

A lot of cards are different, but deck's shell can be considered quite similar.
* Protections and fixers are the same.
* Drawers choices have been changed to fix a more comboish style
* Winners are BFreezes instead of ToAs but the winning storm routine is enhanced by almost the same support spells.
* Sideboard is a little bit peculiar, but perfectly fits the gaps maindeck may have

Both Zeiby & Marske tried to couple the power of Mana Drains, FoW and Restricted spells in order to win through ToA.
Zeiby, such as me, chose not to play DConfidants, making a counterintuitive choice but a wiser one ( especially in a metagame prepared to face them all almost squeezed onto any deck )
Marske, such as me, tried to minimize the number of winners in order to achieve the maximum flexibility this deck can give to us
I opted, since years, to premiate BFreezes over ToA: their own flexibility, cheap cc & instant speed overwhelm the cons of needing more spells to seal the deal.

The shell I opted to play, support this need at his best. More spells, more chains of spells, more free cc spells, combo routine enhanced to his maximum and an higher number of bouncers.

I'm not here to debate which one is better. It is not the porpouse of the topic.
This list can simply offer another ( solid ) approach to a deck, but with the ability to win in a different way with almost the same storming path

This is the list.
  

[24] - Mana
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Snow Covered Island
R Library of Alexandria
R Tolarian Academy
R Mox Sapphire
R Mox Emerald
R Black Lotus
R Lotus Petal
R Mana Vault
R Mana Crypt
R Mox Pearl
R Mox Ruby
R Sol Ring
R Mox Jet

(18) - Restricted, Broken & More Funk
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
R Thirst for Knowledge
R Yawgmoth’s Will
R Ancestral Recall
R Merchant Scroll
R Demonic Tutor
R Vampiric Tutor
R Frantic Search
R Fact or Fiction
R Mystical Tutor
R Gifts Ungiven
R Mind’s Desire
R Timetwister
R Brainstorm
R Time Walk
1 Meditate
R Ponder
R Gush

(2) - Winners
2 Brainfreeze

(16) - Protections
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Repeals
2 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Chain of Vapors
1 Hurkyll’s Recall
1 Misdirection
1 Rebuild

(15) - Sideboard
3 Dark Confidant
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Pithing Needle
2 Hurkyll’s Recall
2 Thoughtsize
2 Duress
1 Sphinx of the Steelwind
R Tinker

I'm sure some choices will buzz people reading list.
Sideboard is both a mix of direct solutions to our worst matchups and a precise selection of cards can change entirely deck's approach to the game, shifting it from pure combo to control.combo

Maindeck is optimized to combo out people' face. A shitload of drawers, cheap resources and a lot of general porpouse spells that, while protecting yourself, can start Storiming opponents out of the game, too.
Sideboard if focused against TPS, Tezz, Stax.
I tried to "cure" Aggrocontrol matchups indirectly: while being a very force in this metagame, being more solid will be enough to win. I'll add discards, needles and Tinker/Sphinx. Hypercosted spells come out and cheap solutions/bouncers will be brought in, leaving opened to you both Storm winning routine and Tinker one.
Against Oath I'll add discard effects and Ichorid, if needed, can see added TCrypts & Needles.

My strategical choice, of putting DConfidant in side is almost for control or control combo matchups, against which DConfidants could be our best friends. Massive drawers or hypercosted spells can be axed by opponents discards effects. A quick DConfidant will give you a better midgame plan and a continous way to refill hand. It will change the approach to the game of the entire deck. This transformational sideboard perspective both intrigued and satisfied me during tests. Opponents can be surprised enough by our post board choices and sometimes they'll add useless cards.

Enjoy,
MAxxMAtt

[heiner]

Hi
I have performed some more testing and found that the windcondition of my choice is neither BF nor Tendrils but Emtpy the Warrens. It is much better in the difficult matchups (stax, fish) and to a lesser extend a dead card.

While a Tendrils really is only a wincondition and is garbage without beeing lethal, EtW is great with just a mox and 2 repeals. I have won much more games because I could empty for 8 tokens or so then I lost because I had EtW instead of tendrils.

My credo always was that you have to minimize the number of dead cards in your hand. Therfore I cut CoV, Hurkyl, Rebuild, and only play1 hurkyl and 4 repeal (which cycle) as bounce. Even with 4 gifts I often didn't like recoup as it was dead.

3 confi
2 top
4 repeal
is the best configuration imo.

[Zieby]

@ Heiner,

I disagree with you on the fact that Bob is needed in this deck in the mainboard.
It can certainly be placed in the SB against Stax and Fish but is to much a liability against Oath en you can Out draw Bob Tezz with out playing Bob.

About ETW, this means you play UBr, I believe in the ubber stable UB manabase and there for I will never play ETW.
The other thing is that I never really have a problem with getting 10 storm when required. Sure against Stax it's hard but then ETW is only stronger in the first few turns when no sphere has entered the battlefield yet. If you can mass bounce their board The ToA kill should be no problem and the UB manabase should make it easy to have a bullity prove against Wasteland.

My question is this, how do you solve a G-Teeg, you cant storm and against a deck as beats you better have more then 3 storm other wise you can't race them.

@ Matt Maxx

I Really like your SB althoug I play the Tendrils Kill and Tinker Sphinx in the Main.
This place is taken by the graveyard in the 2 Tormod's crypts in the maindeck.
I'm going to test it and will inform you about the results.

Greetz Arjan

[heiner]

@Zieby: I can see myself goint down to 2 confidants but he is still solid enough so I wouldn't cut him altogether.

UB: While I love stable mana bases, I play UBr especially to improve the matchup vs. stax and fish. Funny enough thats exactlty the matches where you fear wastelands. I don;t think that you should splash a third color for fancy things like ETW, recoup or regrowth. The ONLY reason for me is to have the SB answers for fish and stax.

And of course: The more controllish you are the better the read artifact removal spells get, the more comboish you are a stable mana base+bounce gets better.