TES Infernal Tutoring #38

Allen Yee

Off [[Brainstorm]], I would keep [[Badlands]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Wishclaw Talisman]], [[Burning Wish]] and, [[Lotus Petal]]. It does not matter what other cards we keep. On our turn two, we can spend [[Lotus Petal]] to either (a) [[Burning Wish]] for [[Echo of Eons]] or (b) play [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and pass intending to grab [[Echo of Eons]] on our turn-three upkeep. I like (b) because the extra card draw and available land drop approximately doubles our chances of winning after resolving [[Echo of Eons]]. We are less likely to be punished by [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] because our opponent’s turn two play signals they do not have one. Our line of play is also unaffected if our opponent plays [[Rishadan Port]].

Josh Hughes

While this was a less than stellar [[Brainstorm]], I think I would put back the [[Ad Nauseam]] first and then put a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on top. Next turn, I am going for an [[Echo of Eons]] line.

Bryant Cook

Maybe I’m missing something but this seems very straight-forward. You put [[Veil of Summer]] on the bottom and then any card on top. Now the only decision on the next turn is whether or not to cast the [[Echo of Eons]] after you get it with [[Burning Wish]] (sacrificing [[Lotus Petal]]). It comes down to “does my opponent have anything?”. The answer is probably yes, and especially now that you’ve revealed yourself as Storm. Our opponent now as additional information on what to name with [[Phyrexian Revoker]] ([[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]). I’d jam.

AJ Kerrigan

Realistically, we’re likely to just redraw both cards we put back unless we use [[Lotus Petal]] and [[Badlands]] to play [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and then activate it in our next upkeep. Given how far our hand is from winning the game, I think we need to do that. Our best shot to win this game, I think, is to put back [[Ad Nauseam]] with any card on top of it. Next turn, we use our [[Badlands]] and [[Lotus Petal]] to play [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. Assuming we don’t get hit by [[Wasteland]], we will then use [[Wishclaw Talisman]] in our upkeep to find a second copy of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. Our plan is to then use the [[Wishclaw Talisman]] or a drawn mana source and the [[Burning Wish]] to do something impactful like [[Ad Nauseam]]. The issue here is that if our opponent hits both of their land drops, they can [[Wishclaw Talisman]] for [[Phyrexian Revoker]] and totally shut us down, but I’ve specifically chosen not to play the pair of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] so that they are more likely to get [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]]. Additionally, by not playing the [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s we’ve theoretically given ourselves the ability to [[Burning Wish]] for [[Pulverize]] to kill [[Phyrexian Revoker]] if we draw another [[Mountain]], but this isn’t game winning because it will also kill our [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. This line doesn’t necessarily beat [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] without a little help, but it doesn’t need much and it gives us the best shot.

Landon Sworts

First I would put back any combination of cards excluding [[Lotus Petal]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Badlands]], and a single copy of [[Burning Wish]]. With these four cards we can take an [[Echo of Eons]] line in an attempt to force a win before a permanent-based disruption card enters the battle field. If we fail to kill the opponent, there is always the possibility to assemble another combo line later on through a secondary window. It’s worth noting that without [[Mother of Runes]] a draw that includes [[Chain of Vapor]] has higher value than usual.

Alex Poling

I would put back the two copies of [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. I get to draw a card on my turn, so it doesn’t matter which two cards I put back. My plan would be to cast [[Burning Wish]] off the [[Badlands]] and [[Lotus Petal]] to search for [[Echo of Eons]]. Once that’s in my hand, I would cast [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and sacrifice it for . The [[Echo of Eons]] would now be in the graveyard and I can flash it back. Hopefully, the seven I draw would be good enough to win the game.

Daniel Lee

Wow, what a pile to be [[Brainstorm]]-locked into. I’ll put the [[Veil of Summer]] and a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] on top. On my turn, I will play the [[Badlands]] and [[Lotus Petal]], then cast [[Burning Wish]] for [[Grapeshot]]. They don’t have any hand disruption and they may think twice about casting a [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] or [[Phyrexian Revoker]] into a known [[Grapeshot]]. Depending on the skill level of your opponent, this could buy you a crucial turn or give you less hate to fight through to win.

Alex McKinley

This scenario presents two options: cast [[Echo of Eons]] on our next turn or cast it the turn after that. Each has a few risks. Given the way that the opponent has played, it seems unlikely that they have a hatebear in their hand. They will have had another draw step to find one, however, and this decision will come down to the value of casting [[Echo of Eons]] with a land drop and giving the opponent a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] vs. casting it without one. Given how bad the quality of our hand is, I’m inclined just to cast it as soon as possible just to see a fresh seven cards. I’d put back the [[Veil of Summer]] and one of the copies of [[Burning Wish]]. Then, I would go off by playing [[Badlands]] and [[Lotus Petal]]. Finally, I would cast [[Burning Wish]] to find [[Echo of Eons]] and use [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to flash it back.

Allen Yee

If we pass the turn and hold up [[Chain of Vapor]] for their turn, we would have to try to naturally storm off [[Echo of Eons]] because our life total is so low. We also run the risk of facing further disruption like discard on one of our engine pieces. If we keep going with [[Ad Nauseam]], there are 17 cards or 41.46 percent chance we can hit an additional mana source to win the game on the spot. There is also a 14.63 percent chance of flipping 1-of-6 cards that immediately kill us. Alternatively, stopping and casting [[Ponder]] spends one mana but gives us four looks for five winning cards or a 45.22 percent probability. [[Ponder]] gives us the best chance.

Josh Hughes

While this [[Ad Nauseam]] was a rough one, I think there is a pretty straight forward play: Cast [[Defense Grid]], floating. Play [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. Tap [[Mox Opal]] for to cast [[Chain of Vapor]], targeting [[Mox Opal]]. Sacrifice a Land returning [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. Sacrifice a Land targeting [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]]. Play out [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. Play out [[Mox Opal]] and then tap it for . Sacrifice [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]. Play [[Echo of Eons]] from the graveyard with floating.

Bryant Cook

The more and more I look at this situation, the better I think it is. You could continue to flip off of [[Ad Nauseam]], but take the chance of dying when you most likely have a probable win. I’d stop revealing off of [[Ad Nauseam]].

1. My first sights were set on playing out [[Defense Grid]] (Storm 6), then [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 7), which then activates the Metalcraft of the [[Mox Opal]], use [[Mox Opal]] to cast [[Chain of Vapor]] (Storm 8) on your two artifacts and then sacrifice your last land to return [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]] to the opponent’s hand. You would have to bank on the opponent not sacrificing a land to copy [[Chain of Vapor]], replay [[Mox Opal]] (Storm 9), recast Lion’s Eye Diamond (Storm 10). this is when I realized we were one mana short of [[Burning Wish]] into [[Tendrils of Agony]].
2. You could also play [[Defense Grid]] (Storm 6), then [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 7), and just [[Chain of Vapor]] (Storm 8) targeting [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]]. Now the odds you lose from two unknown cards in the opponents hand are pretty unlikely, but you would get to untap with a lot of resources and mana in hand.
3. Another line would be to cast [[Defense Grid]] (Storm 6), then [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 7), use the new Metalcraft [[Mox Opal]] to cast [[Chain of Vapor]] (Storm 8) on [[Mox Opal]], sacrifice a land and copy to bounce [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]]. Now replay [[Mox Opal]] (Storm 9), tap it for , and then use [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to make to flashback [[Echo of Eons]] (Storm 11 — ).
4. The fourth path to victory would be to just play the [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and flash back [[Echo of Eons]], but I think the upside of one mana over removing their threat from the table is very low.
5. The last option would be instead of casting [[Chain of Vapor]] after playing your artifacts is to cast [[Ponder]]. If you hit exactly [[Chrome Mox]], you could cast it Imprint: [[Echo of Eons]] and then [[Chain of Vapor]] your artifacts, replay them and this would give you the extra mana you need from the first option.

I would probably take the third line assuming that my opponent didn’t bounce the [[Defense Grid]], if they did, I would probably just wait a turn.

AJ Kerrigan

We could [[Echo of Eons]] this turn or keep going to try and find mana sources to win the game, but I think we are in pretty good shape if we just [[Chain of Vapor]] the [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]] and then win next turn. So, I’d stop on [[Ad Nauseam]], play [[Defense Grid]] and [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], use [[Chain of Vapor]] off of [[Mox Opal]] to bounce [[Ilharg, the Raze-Boar]], and then next turn we’ll have access to four initial mana sources: a [[Burning Wish]], a [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], and an [[Echo of Eons]]. From there, I imagine we should be able to find a way to win the game. We’re probably around 70-75 percent to win the game if we just try to [[Echo of Eons]] on this turn. The fail-case scenario leads to us losing a lot more often. Next turn we can [[Echo of Eons]] and be much closer to like 80 percent to win and have better fail cases. You could also sacrifice a land on this [[Chain of Vapor]] to bounce [[Mox Opal]], allowing us to hold up [[Veil of Summer]] to protect against [[Thoughtseize]], but they obviously don’t have [[Thoughtseize]] already or they would’ve played it last turn. I don’t like sacrificing a land to protect against a drawn card that isn’t even that good against our hand.

Landon Sworts

Yeah, I mean… we could keep flipping? I’m not sure if I like that though. I’m pretty cautious about flipping when I’m at two life. I think I would probably just go with [[Echo of Eons]] with [[Lion’s Eye Diamond ]] and try to get there. We have a [[Mox Opal]] and floating mana which increases our chances of being able to kill on turn. If we fizzle, a draw including [[Chain of Vapor]] could keep us alive long enough to assemble another [[Echo of Eons]] line in the following turns.

Alex Poling

I would stop here. I would cast the [[Defense Grid]] and the [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to get Metalcraft and then sacrifice the [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for . This would allow me to flashback [[Echo of Eons]] and have and an untapped [[Mox Opal]] to try to win with the new seven cards.

Daniel Lee

While our deck is very good at drawing many cards through [[Ad Nauseam]], our current average converted mana cost left in our deck is 0.63, meaning [[Ad Nauseam]] will let us draw just under two more cards from here. I’d rather let [[Echo of Eons]] draw seven more.

Alex McKinley

At this point in the [[Ad Nauseam]], there are two options: stop and cast [[Echo of Eons]] with three mana floating or keep flipping. [[Echo of Eons]] with three mana floating has a pretty good shot at winning, but I think the odds of winning might be higher to keep flipping. Because [[Defense Grid]] is already in the hand to turn on Metalcraft. We are one mana and one Storm short of casting [[Burning Wish]] for [[Tendrils of Agony]]. There are only six cards in the deck that kill us outright: one [[Burning Wish]], one [[Defense Grid]], and four [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. Drawing any card that makes mana in the deck, however, just wins the game on the spot. In total, there are eighteen cards that just win the game. I am inclined to flip until I hit one of these or go down to one life. If I do not hit one of them, I would just cast [[Echo of Eons]].

Allen Yee

Play both our [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and tap [[Bayou]] to search for [[Chain of Vapor]] with our first [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. Then cast [[Chain of Vapor]] off [[Volcanic Island]] targeting their [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. If they try to bounce our [[Wishclaw Talisman]], we can, in response, use our now available [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. Otherwise, we can search for [[Echo of Eons]] with two mana floating and a healthy 11 life with [[Echo of Eons]] exiled.

Josh Hughes

In this scenario, we desperately need to get rid of the [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. Lucky for us, we have a main deck bounce spell! I would start off the turn by tapping my [[Bayou]] to get a [[Chain of Vapor]] with a [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. I would then play out my two copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] just in case the opponent decided to bounce my other [[Wishclaw Talisman]]. I would then sacrifice both copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to go for an [[Ad Nauseam]] line using my [[Wishclaw Talisman]] to search. We are definitely short on life, but since have a land drop, I think this is the line that gives me the best chance of winning.

Bryant Cook

This is a cute line, I like it! [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 1), [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] (Storm 2), tap [[Bayou]] and activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]] searching for [[Chain of Vapor]]. Tap [[Volcanic Island]] and cast [[Chain of Vapor]] (Storm 3). By playing out the [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] before the [[Chain of Vapor]], we can now sacrifice our pair of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for and activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]] for [[Ad Nauseam]] before our opponent’s copy of [[Chain of Vapor]] resolves on our [[Wishclaw Talisman]].

AJ Kerrigan

It’s hard to imagine that most winning scenarios don’t involve [[Wishclaw Talisman]] for [[Chain of Vapor]] to bounce [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. From there, we could [[Ad Nauseam]] with no mana floating and 11 life or we can [[Echo of Eons]] with floating. The website says this is 66 percent to win, plus or minus some because of the assumptions baked into the math. [[Ad Nauseam]] from 11 with a land drop left wins fairly often, but less so when one of two of our [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s are in the graveyard. Our opponent will also have two copies of [[Wishclaw Talisman]] that they should be able to kill us with, so the fail case for both is roughly the same. For that reason, I suspect that [[Echo of Eons]] is more likely to win here. Since we are almost certainly dead if we have to pass the turn, I recommend playing both [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]]s and bouncing them with the [[Chain of Vapor]] before bouncing the [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. Where we are going, we won’t need our lands!

Landon Sworts

Cool line! Tap [[Bayou]], activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]], retrieve [[Chain of Vapor]], cast both copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], cast [[Chain of Vapor]] targeting [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. When the opponent copies [[Chain of Vapor]] we respond by sacking all copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] to activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]] at instant speed; search and cast [[Ad Nauseam]] with the opponent’s copy of [[Chain of Vapor]] on the stack.

Alex Poling

This is a pretty rough spot to be in, but I think we can do it. I would play out both copies of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] and then activate a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] with the [[Bayou]] to search for [[Chain of Vapor]]. Then I would use the [[Volcanic Island]] to cast [[Chain of Vapor]] on the [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. Once [[Phyrexian Revoker]] is off the table then I would sacrifice one copy of [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for . With one of the mana, I would then activate the second [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and search for [[Echo of Eons]] and put it into my hand. Then I would sacrifice the second [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]] for and put [[Echo of Eons]] into the graveyard and immediately flash it back with floating. This hand has to be really good because if the opponent untaps with seven new cards and two [[Wishclaw Talisman]] they’ll probably win.

Daniel Lee

[[Bayou]] activates [[Wishclaw Talisman]], gets [[Chain of Vapor]]. [[Volcanic Island]] casts [[Chain of Vapor]] targeting [[Phyrexian Revoker]]. [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], [[Lion’s Eye Diamond]], sacrifice both for , activate [[Wishclaw Talisman]], get [[Ad Nauseam]]. Our average converted mana cost is no more than 0.87, so [[Ad Nauseam]] will draw 11.5 cards on average here, several more than [[Echo of Eons]] will.

Alex McKinley

Having two copies of [[Wishclaw Talisman]] is key here. One of them can fine [[Chain of Vapor]] to answer the [[Phyrexian Revoker]] and the other can find an engine card to attempt to win the game. Being at eleven life is a little scary to cast [[Ad Nauseam]], but I think it is likely to draw more cards than [[Echo of Eons]]. This likely involves going below six life and risks dying to the [[Echo of Eons]] that is still in the deck, but I think that is the best odds of winning.