why doesnt teps see more play?

[turn3ionawin]

This next weekend will be my third vintage tournament and im wondering why teps doesnt see more play. Ive played noble fish the last two tournaments and done fairly well but i want to play something new. I was going to play oath but then i found a teps list and fell in love with it. So what i want to know is what is going to be the down side of playing teps what match ups are extremely hard and what i need to prepare myself for to do well.

Thank you.

[DubDub]

This next weekend will be my third vintage tournament and im wondering why teps doesnt see more play. Ive played noble fish the last two tournaments and done fairly well but i want to play something new. I was going to play oath but then i found a teps list and fell in love with it. So what i want to know is what is going to be the down side of playing teps what match ups are extremely hard and what i need to prepare myself for to do well.

Thank you.

It's a little unclear what you're asking about, due to somewhat confusing naming conventions.

TEPS (The Extended Perfect Storm)
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=25683

Mind's Desire's restriction prevents a port of this former Extended deck from being played in Vintage.


TEPS (The EPic Storm, or ANT, Ad Nauseam Tendrils)
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=33390

Lion's Eye Diamond's restriction prevents a port of this Legacy deck from being played in Vintage.

TPS (The Perfect Storm)
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=20536

TPS is a highly viable Vintage deck, and may be underplayed because it's very difficult to pilot.

The first two deckcheck links were the most recent entry for each, while for the TPS link I choose specifically Stephen Menendian's list.  Stephen has written a series of very informative articles on TPS which should answer the majority of your questions:

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/16270_So_Many_Insane_Plays_The_Perfect_Storm.html
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/16298_So_Many_Insane_Plays_Playing_The_Perfect_Storm.html
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/16330_So_Many_Insane_Plays_Winning_With_TPS.html

You can find other articles of Stephen's here:
http://www.starcitygames.com/pages/articlefinder.php?keyword=Stephen+Menendian

[turn3ionawin]

sorry about that it is

TPS (The Perfect Storm)
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=20536

Thats what ive been told, but aside from being hard to pilot what else should i know?

[median]

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=37514.msg522249#msg522249
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38084.0

Read, Practice.
Best of luck.
Edit, if your new at the deck try using one empty the warrens in your list (winning with storm 7 is better than not winning. From steve's list I would drop the fact or fiction or go with 61 cards or ask someone better than me).

[Killane]

TPS sees little play at the moment for the following reasons:

1. it really is very very draining to pilot. Even once you have played it in dozens of tournaments and goldfished thousands of times, you still have to make many many decisions per game, not all of which are obvious, and one of which made wrong often leads to a loss.

2. Worskhops are currently extremely popular, which (short of nice mono-U Arcane Lab.dec) is the deck's toughest matchup. It's certainly winnable, but it's even more exhausting and... tense... thankthe average game.

3. Given that a Drain deck with a Kill that is just as fast exists in the format, most pilots prefer the tactic that can combo out without exhausting its resources.


That said, I'm not one of them. I love TPS and it certianly has the potential to do very very well (see Jesse Martins recent Philly V win for example).

If you're planning on taking it to an event, test as much as you can beforehand and don't be discouraged if you scrub out at first. It takes time to master but can be very rewarding on multiple levels.

Also, I wrote an article in the Advanced Forum regarding Sideboarding with TPS which might be a good read once you've read Steve's artilcles and mastered the basics of the deck. It shoudl help you keep in mind what's important. Realizing the importance of small decisions is critical to success with TPS, and I think the article helps with that.

Good luck with TPS!

[Troy_Costisick]

While Time Vault decks can frequenlty have "Oops, I win" moments, TPS can frequently have, "Oops, I lose" moments.  It is a very skill intensive deck.

[Ten-Ten]

What decks are you expecting to face at your next vintage tourney?
Knowing this would most certainly help you in putting together a sideboard for the event which is, by the way, very important.
Killane wrote a great article on sideboarding with TPS in the Advanced Forum.

[turn3ionawin]

last time it was 22 players there was....

2 noble fish
6 tezz
2 variants of the deck
4 oath
1 mono black control homebrew
3 stacks ( u/r, mono red, 5c)
1 b/r painter
2 dredge
1 ants