Last month I played my “new list” to a second place finish at Mythic Games. This month, I did the same exact thing. I’ve been playing in two local events a week with the deck as well as a bunch of games online and have been having a lot of success. I think for the time being that I’ve found the sweet-spot with the hybrid list (who knows how long that’ll last for). Below you can find the deck list I played at the event.

Deck List

Main Deck
  • 4 [[Infernal Tutor]]
  • 4 [[Brainstorm]]
  • 4 [[Ponder]]
  • 4 [[Gitaxian Probe]]
  • 3 [[Cabal Therapy]]
  • 3 [[Duress]]
  • 3 [[Burning Wish]]
  • 1 [[Empty the Warrens]]
  • 1 [[Past in Flames]]
  • 1 [[Ad Nauseam]]
  • 4 [[Rite of Flame]]
  • 4 [[Dark Ritual]]
  • 4 [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]
  • 4 [[Lotus Petal]]
  • 2 [[Chrome Mox]]
  • 1 [[Cabal Ritual]]
  • 4 [[Polluted Delta]]
  • 3 [[Bloodstained Mire]]
  • 2 [[Underground Sea]]
  • 1 [[Volcanic Island]]
  • 1 [[Badlands]]
  • 1 [[Bayou]]
  • 1 [[Swamp]]
Sideboard
  • 4 [[Abrupt Decay]]
  • 2 [[Surgical Extraction]]
  • 2 [[Chain of Vapor]]
  • 1 [[Reverent Silence]]
  • 1 [[Past in Flames]]
  • 1 [[Empty the Warrens]]
  • 1 [[Grapeshot]]
  • 1 [[Tendrils of Agony]]
  • 1 [[Massacre]]
  • 1 [[Dark Petition]]

Deck Changes

[[Xantid Swarm|]]
[[Surgical Extraction|]]
[[Chain of Vapor|]]

I found that I wasn’t getting enough value from my [[Xantid Swarm]]s to make them worthwhile for the moment – they just weren’t being used enough. I also found that with [[Past in Flames]] in the main deck, along with [[Empty the Warrens]] and the [[Ad Nauseam]], that the second sideboard [[Massacre]] was simply too much revealed damage off of [[Ad Nauseam]]. I wanted a cheaper, cost efficient way of handling [[Sanctum Prelate]] (usually names two or four). [[Chain of Vapor]] does this while dealing with [[Sphere of Resistance]] effects, but isn’t great against [[Chalice of the Void]]. In an ideal world, it would be a card that’s great against [[Chalice of the Void]], [[Sanctum Prelate]] and taxing effects – but that doesn’t exist at the moment.

I’ve been having moderate success with [[Surgical Extraction]], which helps with the common Reanimator match-ups online as well as the Storm mirror, Miracles, Dredge and plenty of others. I’ve been sideboarding it frequently, I’m pretty happy with this change.

Event

Round one: **BYE**

Bye from finishing in the top 4 from the previous month.

0-0 | 1-0

Round two: Pat MaHoney with Burn

Sideboarding: -4 [[Gitaxian Probe]], -1 [[Ad Nauseam]], +2 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Chain of Vapor]], +1 [[Tendrils of Agony]]

2-0 | 2-0

Round three: Alex Bianchi with Miracles

Sideboarding: – 4 [[Ponder]], -2 [[Chrome Mox]], -1 [[Empty the Warrens]], +4 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Surgical Extraction]], +1 [[Tendrils of Agony]]

4-0 | 3-0

Round four: Nick Cummings with Food Chain

Sideboarding:  -1 [[Empty the Warrens]], +1 [[Surgical Extraction]].

6-1 | 4-0

Round five:  Thomas Swan with Tezzerator

Intentional Draw.

6-1-1 | 4-0-1

Round six: Eli Kassis with Miracles

Intentional Draw.

6-1-2 | 4-0-2

Top eight: Nick Cummings with Food Chain

Sideboarding:  None.

8-2-2 | 5-0-2

Top four: Zhu Zimu with 4c Chalice Loam

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], -2 [[Duress]], +4 [[Abrupt Decay]], +2 [[Chain of Vapor]].

10-2-2 | 6-0-2

Finals: Lucas Barta with Eldrazi

Sideboarding: -4 [[Ponder]], +4 [[Abrupt Decay]]

10-4-2 | 6-1-2

Totals & Stats

  • Games & Record:  10-4-2 | 6-1-2
  • The Die Roll: 3-0
  • Mulligans: 3
  • Turn One Combos: 3
  • Ad Nauseam Wins: 2
  • Past in Flames Wins: 5
  • Empty the Warrens Wins: 2
  • Natural Tendrils of Agony Wins: 1

Aftermath

Honestly, I provided an abridged version of my day because my day wasn’t worth describing in detail – I had it pretty easy. If you look at the numbers above, you’ll see that I really abused [[Past in Flames]] against these slower decks on the day and then against the [[Chalice of the Void]] based decks I used [[Ad Nauseam]] and [[Empty the Warrens]] more.

I had a slight misplay in the finals game one that cost me the game, but lessoned learned – carefully examine things before you make an action. Even if it’s been a long day.

This post is really here to provide an updated deck list as well as to show the continued success of the main deck [[Past in Flames]] and [[Cabal Ritual]]. If you missed it, Rodrigo Togores also went 5-0 in a MODO league with the deck.

Thanks for reading, feel free to drop me a message or ask a question using the contact form below. Any questions will likely be featured in an upcoming TES Mailbox article.

Can’t wait to see everyone at GP:Louisville in January.

Until next time, keep storming!