Special Guest

A few words from Roland Chang:

(Twitter: @RolandMTG)

Hi, I’m Roland – Eternal specialist, 2005 Vintage & 2006 Legacy World Champion. I’m deeply involved in community building for Eternal constructed formats in the NYC area, connecting with players from all over the world, while competing or vending at most major paper Magic events. The formats I’m focused on include Legacy, Vintage, and Pre-modern.

Roland’s Deck List – Orzhov Death & Taxes

When I was playing mono-White D&T, it always felt kind of naked. You didn’t really have some of the extra protection that’s offered by [[Thoughtseize]]. Disruption early on is usually the biggest difference, and something that [[Thoughtseize]] also provides is a kind of [[Gitaxian Probe]] effect – you get to see what your opponent is up to and see which hatebear is most effective against them rather than just guessing.

[[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] is generally the right play, but it’s still nice to confirm!

You lose part of your toolbox. From my D&T perspective, the deck is pretty tight, even with 80 cards – you get 1-2 flex spots total, which sounds surprising but there really isn’t more room. When you’re trying to fit in new tech like [[Canoptek Scarab Swarm]] or [[Loran of the Third Path]] along with the eight new black cards in [[Thoughtseize]] and [[Orcish Bowmasters]], you really start to push up against the core of the deck.

[[Spirit of the Labyrinth]] was an early cut for [[Orcish Bowmasters]] – it’s a fair trade, but it means your opponent does still get to draw the cards if they have enough life. We’ve also started trimming on cards like [[Mother of Runes]] and [[Flickerwisp]]. A lot of these cards often just die to [[Orcish Bowmasters]] (or eat it) without generating a ton of onboard impact.

She’s really the only piece that matters game one. She slows the game down enough that until it’s out of play, your opponent is shut down. It gives me the time I need to win. Even with [[Orcish Bowmasters]], you can still just draw cards and eat the damage, or you may just have the cards you need already. Throw in [[Beseech the Mirror]] and it may not matter at all. Against an [[Echo of Eons]] line, maybe [[Orcish Bowmasters]] can sneak it in with some mana-based disruption from the likes of [[Wasteland]] and [[Loran of the Third Path]], but by that point you’re probably 3-plus turns in. I’m probably already dead game one.

I’m hoping to get this info off of [[Thoughtseize]], but in the blind it’s just normal for any non-[[Force of Will]] deck to not necessarily be able to react in real time to a strategy like this game one. In general, a lot of decks like TES can be tough to spot at first, and decks that are a little more telegraphed (like the various flavors of Painter) tend to be stronger against [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]]. Against The EPIC Storm in particular, your opportunities to interact tend to be minimal – think [[Solitude]] on your own creature in response to a [[Tendrils of Agony]] for exactsies.

Ultimately, what D&T provides is a baseline of disruption, and it’s my job to get creative and figure out how to win.

Something I learned playing mono-White, 80-card D&T is that you couldn’t rely on a consistent turn one play. Black has opened this up, supporting our [[AEther Vial]] openers with [[Thoughtseize]] openers, and I’m a fan of this disruptive turn one paving the way for a more impactful turn two (for example, by stripping the [[Lightning Bolt]] that would take out your [[Stoneforge Mystic]]). There’s no one path you have to take, it depends on the texture of your hand.

Always play [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] first. D&T wants to compound on its opponents. My mana taxation gets better with her, and you really want to wait for those moments when you have control over the board to start deploying cards like [[Stoneforge Mystic]]. You almost want to sandbag it. Jamming a [[Stoneforge Mystic]] in the dark, if all you see is a fetch, you don’t know if it’ll be successful or not.

If we’re talking deploying a turn-three [[Lion Sash]], I’m only exiling one card. That said, [[Kaldra Compleat]] isn’t incredible in this matchup either, so I actually do think I’m going for the hate piece.

Give me [[Kaldra Compleat]] any day then. I’d much rather have the clock over the additional prison element.

Unlike many decks, D&T generally doesn’t have play / draw differences in sideboarding. I’ve found you just want card quality. I’d always take turn-one [[Deafening Silence]] on the draw over no hate piece whatsoever. Nothing on the draw is necessarily worse.

[[Swords to Plowshares]] comes out, probably some number of [[Solitude]] come out, even [[Flickerwisp]] isn’t at its best. Those come out for cards like [[Mindbreak Trap]]. I will even cut some equipment pieces sometimes. [[Umezawa’s Jitte]] can close out a game, but is mana intensive.

I don’t typically bring it in for Storm. There might be space, and it can give you a few free wins, but between your artifact mana, rituals, and the fact that you can use Red mana. It often doesn’t matter.

On the blasts, I think they were more useful when Izzet Delver was a very dominant force. You’ll recall it was common in the first iterations of Boros Taxes that were developed to try and fight those strategies. [[Murktide Regent]] can still be a house against us. Not all decks are on four, but one and especially two are a force to deal with. For a deck like D&T that runs on thin margins, the eight life from a [[Swords to Plowshares]] on a [[Murktide Regent]] can matter a lot, especially if they still have another one left onboard. Red blast was a great tool to deal with [[Murktide Regent]] in a way that didn’t gain your opponent any life.

I typically didn’t see the blasts as reactive tools to deal with cantrips or try to get cute and deal with an [[Echo of Eons]]. That can be a blowout, but the way these lists are setup now, I’d rather just have [[Mindbreak Trap]]

In terms of other Red cards, I’ve considered [[Meltdown]], as well as [[Alpine Moon]] for additional [[Urza’s Saga]] hate on top of the [[Magus of the Moon]] and [[Cast into the Fire]] for [[The One Ring]]. Ultimately, what I’m most interested in out of my sideboard cards is long-term impact over trading, so if I were to add one of these cards, it would probably be [[Alpine Moon]].

If I’m on the draw, I’d really like something I can cast for free – either [[Surgical Extraction]] or, ideally, [[Mindbreak Trap]]. That said, if I’m on five cards and it’s [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] and mana to cast my spells, so be it. Hopefully, I rip well off the top (not always easy for a deck without cantrips).

One other piece of advice for D&T players in this matchup – work on your poker face. Sometimes convincing your opponent you “have it” is as good as actually “having it”.

[[Chrome Mox]] adds a lot of variance to the kinds of hands I can keep. The extra mana early is phenomenal for turn-one [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] or paying for a [[Daze]], but I’m typically not looking for velocity. I’m looking for stability and consistency, and [[Chrome Mox]] can be a game-losing top deck in the late game.

If I was playing something more in the Initiative family of decks, [[Chrome Mox]] would make more sense, but I still think of [[Yorion, Sky Nomad]] D&T as a control deck. You’re not trying to race out threats as quickly as possible.

Keep it on the play, send it back on the draw.

I’ll take the early disruption I can get. If there’s at least one piece of interaction I can cast early, I can roll with it. [[Opposition Agent]] is probably a beat too slow by itself, but as long as the hand includes enough early disruption and the mana to cast it, I’m probably in – hopefully whatever comes off the top is going to help (c’mon [[Wasteland]]).

I’d generally go for the second lock piece. You want to throw your Storm opponent as far behind as possible, and a second lock piece typically puts them further away from being able to respond with something like [[Abrupt Decay]]. Getting out of that lock will take more of your opponent’s resources and time, so yes, give me turn-two [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] after turn one [[Deafening Silence]] any day.

I’m not pitching a hand with [[Deafening Silence]] and the mana to cast it. If my follow up play has to be [[Stoneforge Mystic]], I’m going into beatdown mode ASAP to try and race you before you find an answer.

It’s close, but on turn one, the safest route is going to be the [[Goblin Token]]s. Relying on your graveyard is very risky here, and you can catch me before I have time to get set up

Past the first turn, [[Empty the Warrens]] gets way worse, because I’ll have time to get better answers (think [[Batterskull]], or maybe [[Plague Engineer]] from a different build of the deck) online. The longer you wait, the more creatures I can get online to eat, or at least trade with, yours.

I think of Storm as being a 55 for me. It’s a much more winnable matchup now that [[Thoughtseize]] gives us a much better chance of winning game 1.

In terms of comparing the matchup to other combo decks, now that I’m no longer on [[Cavern of Souls]]. It can definitely be more of a challenge to resolve cards like [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] against decks like [[Doomsday]] and Sneak & Show, so at this point, I’d typically rather see Storm than a blue combo deck.

I have a lot of respect for Storm pilots that can “dance” around the hate and figure out how to deal with it on the fly. My advice is that D&T is a pretty slow deck, and you have to find the most efficient route to get across the finish line. Play your game, and remember that D&T is not actually the scariest deck to play against. You’re just going to have to jump through a lot of hoops to get your win. I’m sure you’ve experienced that in our games.

You’re not going to get blown out on turn one that often. Go for your [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]], but remember that she’s always at risk. Trust in the deck and find creative ways to disrupt their game plan and their mana ([[Recruiter of the Guard]] for a [[Skyclave Apparition]] taking out a key mana rock can be a fine play!). The more inefficient or non-functional their mana is, the better you’re generally going to do.

For us D&T pilots, we know it’s a constant uphill battle. It’s always an uphill battle, and it’s an extremely hard deck to pilot round after round. Stay focused, and keep your opponents honest on clock. Those are keys to victory.

I want to give an ENORMOUS shout out to Roland Chang for joining us here at Through the Looking Glass. Roland is a pillar of the NYC Magic scene, and I’m thrilled to be kicking off a more conversational format of TTLG with someone I’d consider a mentor and a friend.

Bang bang Tendrils gang. See you next month.