So Many Insane Plays – The Perfect Storm Revisited

In the last couple of weeks I’ve received a number of requests to share my thoughts on TPS in the new metagame. Last year, I played TPS in the Vintage Championship, losing the mirror match in the final round of the swiss to my teammate Paul Mastriano, who, after defeating me and knocking me out of contention, went onto win the tournament with the same deck that I gave him the day before. Afterward, I wrote a detailed three–part primer, explaining how the deck works in the clearest possible terms. Then, this spring, I wrote an article called “Mastering the Perfect Storm,” an article on high level strategy and tactics with TPS, written for the most experienced and expert Vintage players. I haven’t played TPS since.

One of the problems with TPS in the Spring was the rise of Mystic Remora in Tezzeret. Mystic Remora posed serious difficulties for the TPS pilot. Also, while TPS smashed the Drain decks of 2008, the errata on Time Vault tightened the Drain/Storm matchup considerably. And with the advent of Mystic Remora in Tezzeret and the increasing use of Duress (many Tezzeret lists running 4 Duress), TPS became a less and less attractive choice. With the metagame reshaped by the June restriction of Thirst, the question is: is TPS a good metagame contender once again?

We’ll find out.

For reference, here is my TPS list:

However, instead of this sideboard:

2 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Yixlid Jailer
1 Chain Of Vapor
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Massacre
2 Island
1 Swamp

I’m now running THIS sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Yixlid Jailer
1 Chain Of Vapor
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Massacre
2 Island
1 Swamp

First, we’ll put it up against Hiromichi’s Championship winning Tezzeret list:

TPS versus Itou Tezzeret, Round 1: Establishing a Baseline

Tez won the die roll.

Game 1: Tez opened a double Force of Will hand with turn 2 Dark Confidant. TPS played turn 1 Ponder, turn 2 Duress, and turn 3 Time Walk, untap Dark Ritual, Duress, Cabal Ritual, Timetwister, into Rituals plus Duress plus Tendrils for the win.

1-0

Game 2: TPS’s opening hand: Bloodstained Mire, Duress, Merchant Scroll, Fact or Fiction, Black Lotus, Mana Vault, Yawgmoth’s Will. Tez opening hand: Force of Will, Library of Alexandria, Mox Sapphire, Magus of the Unseen, Chain of Vapor, Mox Pearl. TPS was on the play. TPS’s Duress took Force and used Lotus and Scroll to fire off Ancestral Recall. Tez played Library. TPS played Sol Ring and Mana Vault on turn 2. Tez drew Tinker off of Library. Memory Jar resolved and won the game.

2-0

Game 3: TPS mulligans to 5. Tez is on the play. Tez hand: Polluted Delta, Fact or Fiction, Rack and Ruin, Time Walk, Volcanic Island, Mana Drain, and Time Vault. TPS five-card hand: 3 lands, Time Walk and Rebuiild. Tez plays Delta, go. TPS draws and plays turn 1 Duress, taking Drain. Tez plays turn 2 Time Walk, and another land and a Mox. TPS plays Time Walk, draws Scroll, plays a third land, and casts Scroll for Ancestral and plays Ancestral Recall. Tez responds with Fact or Fiction, which sees: Mana Crypt, Mox Jet, Force, and two Drains. Tez’s hand is Rack and Ruin and Time Vault and TPS knows this because it has been keeping track of cards it hasn’t seen. It splits: Drains and everything else. Tez takes two drains over Force, Mana Crypt and a Mox. TPS’s Ancestral resolves. Tez draws a fourth land and has double Mana Drain up. TPS plays Grim Tutor for Necro. Tez draws Black Lotus. TPS plays Necro, which is Drained. Tez draws Academy and plays Time Vault. TPS cycles Rebuild on Tez’s end-step. TPS untaps and plays another land, Mana Vault, and Tinker, which is Drained. Then TPS plays Lotus and Timetwister, which resolves. TPS draws Gifts and Demonic Tutor. Tez just drew Force for countermagic and nothing else. TPS played Gifts, which was Forced, with a ton of mana available, and TPS played Demonic Tutor for Tendrils of Agony and won.

3-0

Game 4: TPS’s opening hand: Duress, Bloodstained Mire, Imperial Seal, Mox Jet, Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor, Mana Vault. Tez’s opening hand: Misdirection, Mana Drain, Mana Drain, Sensei’s Divining Top, Mox Jet, Swamp, Underground Sea. TPS opens with Duress and Imperial Seal for Bargain. Tez plays Top. TPS plays Bargain, but Top does not reveal a Force of Will. Bargain resolves and it’s a blowout from there on out.

4-0

Game 5: Tez’s opening hand: Ancestral Recall, Darkblast, Dark Confidant, Black Lotus, Polluted Delta, Mox Jet, and Tinker. TPS mulliganed a no-business hand into: Duress, Polluted Delta, Tolarian Academy, Memory Jar, Swamp, and Lotus Petal. Tez plays turn 1 Ancestral, which just sees Library, Mana Crypt, and Rack and Ruin. Bob and Tinker for Leviathan follows. TPS is on a clock. TPS plays turn 1 Duress. Tez attacks for 9. Tez reveals another Bob and plays it. TPS Brainstorms into Academy and a Mox, but it’s one mana short of being able to play Jar with Force protection. Tez untaps and wins with two Bobs and Inkwell, attacking for the final 11.

4-1

Game 6: TPS has to mulligan to 5, into: Polluted Delta, Duress, Timetwister, Demonic Tutor, Memory Jar. Tez’s hand is: double Dark Confidant, Tezzeret the Seeker, Mana Drain, Force of Will, Underground Sea, and Polluted Delta. Turn 1 Duress takes Force. Tez draws another Sea on turn 1. TPS draws a Force. Tez plays turn 2 Bob. TPS draws another Duress, and Duresses the Drain. Bob reveals a Lotus, which leads to Tezzeret, which is Forced. TPS draws Mox Emerald, which it uses to play Demonic Tutor for Lotus. Tez reveals Top and plays Academy and a Top and the second Bob, after Top reveals nothing of immediate use. TPS resolves Jar, and breaks it, but Jar reveals nothing. TPS plays a Chain on a Bob. Tez untaps and strings together a couple of spells to fire off a Yawgmoth’s Will with only half of its mana, but it uses that to Vampiric Tutor for Time Walk, Brainstorm and Time Walk. From there, it plays Fact and DTs for a Drain, all the while attacking with Bob. That proves enough to counter Gifts and then Yawgmoth’s Will. However, TPS Brainstorms into Misdirection, Tinker, and Force of Will. It has to put Tinker on top, and wait one turn. Tez topdecks Scroll, which finds Force, and attacks TPS to 3. TPS untaps and plays Tinker, which is Forced, and TPS Misdirects, pitching Force, but Tez has been holding that Hurkyl’s Recall. That’s game.

4-2

Game 7: Tez has to mulligan a no-land hand (only two mana: Mox Emerald and Jet) into a six-card hand with only Hurkyl’s Recall and Magus of the Unseen for business. TPS keeps: Brainstorm, Duress, Inkwell Leviathan, Mind’s Desire, and 3 lands. TPS fires off turn 3 Desire for 4 which reveals Necro, and it’s all over.

5-2

Game 8: TPS mulligans: Chain of Vapor, Inkwell Leviathan, Duress, Polluted Delta, Yawgmoth’s Will, Memory Jar, and something else irrelevant into: Mox Sapphire, Black Lotus, Necropotence, Mystical Tutor, Force of Will, Sol Ring. Tez’s opening hand: Library of Alexandria, Mox Ruby, Sol Ring, Tolarian Academy, Underground Sea, Mox Sapphire, Chain of Vapor. Tez considers whether to mulligan that hand. It has only Library and Chain for business. I cheat and look at the top cards, and they are Darkblast and land. I mulligan Tez into: Mox Emerald, Vampiric Tutor, Underground Sea, Misdirection, Underground Sea, Tezzeret the Seeker. TPS has turn 1 Necro and its over. Tinker finds Inkwell and the game ends.

6-2

Game 9: Tez keeps: Flooded Strand, Ancestral Recall, Misdirection, Merchant Scroll, Chain of Vapor, Mox Ruby, Mox Jet. TPS mulligans and all mana hand to: Gifts Ungiven, Rebuild, Timetwister, Mox Ruby, Underground Sea, Black Lotus. This ought to be a good one.

If you play Scroll, then you may have to Force Duress. I Scrolled anyway.

I’m pretty sure that Tez loses if it plays turn 1 Ancestral. Turn 1 Timetwister off Lotus Petal, which is Forced. If Tez Scrolls for Ancestral, TPS likely wins here. Gifts is also Forced. Fact or Fiction reveals just mana and Voltaic Key. Ancestral is Misdirected to Tez, and the game ends the next turn with Yawgmoth’s Will. If TPS had not played Ancestral Recall, it could have hard cast Bargain next turn, and it would have resolved! Misdirection, hard cast, for the win.

6-3

Game 10: TPS has turn 1 Time Walk, and the Imperial Seal. Tez plays turn 1 Lotus and Voltaic Key. TPS plays turn 2 Fact or Fiction, which was absurd, involving Force, Lotus and Necro. Tez plays turn 2 Scroll for Force, after seeing that TPS has Necro. TPS plays Necro, and Force’s Tez’s Force. TPS Necros to 4 life. Tez plays Fact and gets Time Vault versus everything else, taking Time Vault. Tez plays Time Vault, but TPS Chains it (TPS also had Force), but this allows it to bounce Necro, too.

Final Score: 7-3

About as expected. TPS has a definite advantage. First of all, TPS is just faster and more broken. That’s the classic Dark Ritual versus Drain matchup. The Dark Ritual decks always have the inherent edge, just as Grim Long did versus Control Slaver. Secondly, Itou’s deck is full of metagame junk that is awful against TPS. Cards like Magus of the Unseen, Rack and Ruin, and Darkblast are all useless and were frequently seen. Even more interestingly, the new draw engine, Dark Confidant, is much worse against TPS, but stronger against most other decks. Tez could never seem to manipulate itself fast enough to find more countermagic. Tez’s wins came not from when it established control, but when it comboed out faster. One of the problems with TPS six months ago was how fast Tezzeret decks could accumulate cards with Thirst. That is no longer the case. Worse, Itou doesn’t even have cards like Gifts or Ponder, which are so good in this matchup. Also, Tez’s wins were also connected to TPS having to mulligan. TPS definitely has a higher mulligan ratio, having to mulligan eight times during the match. That was really awkward. All but one of Tez’s mulligans were strategic. In short, TPS had some consistency problems, but Tezzeret’s disadvantages were much greater.

Itou’s maindeck is very vulnerable to storm combo, but what about post-board? Itou not only has Trinisphere, but a pair of Arcane Laboratories. Although Itou said he’d cut them, I will test with them to see what happens.

TPS versus Itou Tez, Round 2: Post-Board Baseline

I’m not sure how to sideboard with Itou’s deck, but it’s pretty obvious that we’ll want to bring in Trinisphere and the two Arcane Labs. Darkblast and Magus of the Unseen can come out for obvious reasons. Fire/Ice is also pretty marginal, and can come out for Trinisphere. I’ll sideboard out the Rack and Ruin, since it’s pretty marginal as well, for a Pyroblast. The question is whether a Red Elemental Blast is better than Tezzeret or Chain. I’ll sideboard out the Chain too, for a Red Blast. So, here is what I did:

– 1 Fire/Ice
– 1 Darkblast
– 1 Chain of Vapor
– 1 Rack and Ruin
– 1 Magus of the Unseen
+ 1 Trinisphere
+ 2 Arcane Laboratory
+ 1 Pyroblast
+ 1 Red Elemental Blast

If this sideboard plan is clearly suboptimal, I’ll change it.

TPS sideboards in a Chain of Vapor.

Game 1: Tez is on the play in all odd numbered games. It has to mulligan a no-land hand into: Vamp, Bob, Mox Jet, and three lands. TPS keeps: Mana Vault, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Tinker, Mox Jet, Vamp, Mox Pearl, Force. Tez plays turn 1 Bob. TPS topdecks a Swamp and plays Mox, Mox, Mana Vault, Swamp and passes. Bob reveals Time Walk, which will allow Tez to tutor up Lab or Trinisphere (or Tinker). However, Time Walk is Forced by TPS, which pitched Tinker. TPS untapped and hardcast Bargain. Good Game.

1-0

Game 2: Tez opens: Jet, Island, Sea, Time Walk, DT, Force, Hurkyl’s. TPS opens: Mana Crypt, Yawgmoth’s Will, Grim Tutor, Sea, Imperial Seal, Duress, Mana Vault. TPS plays turn 1 Imperial Seal for Black Lotus. Tez draws Key on turn 1, and leads with Mox, Island, Time Walk. It untaps and draws Mana Drain. It plays Sea and holds up Mana Drain, but plays Key off Mox. TPS untaps and plays Duress. Tez plays Force of Will (hoping to Drain the real threat so it can untap, Demonic Tutor for Vault and win). TPS obliges. It plays Grim Tutor for Dark Ritual, plays Yawgmoth’s Will, which is Drained. Tez untaps, Demonic Tutors for Vault and wins.

1-1

Game 3: TPS opened: Delta, Mox Sapphire, Mox Ruby, Bargain, Necro, Force, Force. Tez opened: Drain, Sapphire, Sea, Misd, Tez, Vamp, Mana Crypt. Tez opened turn 1 Mox, Sea. TPS played turn one Delta, Mox, Mox. Tez played Vamp for Lab and cast it on turn 2. Force was met with Misdirection (pitching Drain). TPS played turn 2 Swamp. Tez played turn 3 Mox Emerald. TPS played turn 3 Delta for Sea and cast Necropotence, which resolved. TPS draws 8, going to 9. No Force. On turn 4, Tez plays Tezzeret and finds Time Vault. TPS Necros for 6 more and plays mainphase Ponder, which sees Chain of Vapor. Tez activates Time Vault, and in response, TPS plays Chain of Vapor on Time Vault. Tez replays Time Vault. TPS is able to Tinker for Inkwell, but it’s not enough. Tez takes two turns in a row and attacks with a lethal 5/5 Mox.

1-2

Game 4: TPS has turn 1 Dark Ritual Necro with Misdirection backup. Tez has turn 1 Top and Arcane Lab. TPS plays a Delta for Sea, Necros aside six cards. Then it plays Chain, sacrificing a Swamp (after floating a mana) to bounce Necro and copy it to Arcane Lab. By the way, it Necros into both Chains. TPS plays Mox, Mox, Sol Ring, Black Lotus Time Walk and Memory Jar. TPS untaps and wins.

2-2

Game 5: Tez has Force, Ancestral, Swamp, Library of Alexandria, Mox Jet, Bob, and Top. TPS has to mulligan into: Mire, Desire, Dark Ritual, Force, Vamp, and Dark Ritual. Tez plays turn one Bob. TPS draws Scroll. Bob reveals Time Walk. Tez plays Top, and sees an Island 3 cards down. It Tops into it, plays Island (and Arcane Lab) and casts Time Walk. Tez untaps and plays Top again, and Tops to see Trinisphere (hoping to see a Blue card, but Trinisphere is fine). Tez activates top to draw Trinisphere, which is Forced, but Tez plays Force pitching Ancestral. Arcane Lab the next turn ends the game.

2-3

Game 6: TPS has to mulligan to 5 and Duresses Tinker, but faces turn 2 Arcane Lab.

2-4

Game 7: TPS has turn 1 Desire for 8 after Brainstorm, Mox, Mox, Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, Grim Tutor for Academy, Desire. Win. Tez led with land, setting up turn 2 Demonic Tutor for Lotus to play Trinisphere or Lab, both were in hand.

3-4

Game 8: TPS has turn 1 Timetwister with Force backup. Tez is drawn into a seven-card hand with no land. TPS wins.

4-4

Game 9: Tez has turn 1 Pyroblast up. TPS Duresses it and plays Lotus, Mox, Scroll, Ancestral, Brainstorm, and turn 2 Necro and turn 3 Tinker.

5-4

Game 10: TPS opens: Delta, Duress, Tendrils, Twister, Lotus Petal Ancestral, Necro. Tez opens: DT, Sea, Delta, Thirst, Force, Misdirection, Bob. TPS Duresses and sees Misdirection, so it takes Force and refuses to play Ancestral. Tez plays land. TPS plays Imperial Seal for Lotus. Tez DTs for Trinisphere and it resolves.

5-5

Analysis: It’s pretty clear that the sideboard cards that Tezzeret brings in, like Arcane Lab and Trinisphere, are devastating. They can be beat, but it’s an uphill battle. There are three possible options:

1) Ignore them and don’t bother trying to sideboard to address these threats. They won’t be drawn in every game, nor will then even resolve or see play when they are, since they have to survive being Duressed or Forced first.
2) Bring in more bounce/removal for them.
3) Bring in other sideboard cards that trump them.

If you can do (3), that strikes me as the route to go.

Tommy Kolowith revived TPS last summer, just before the Vintage Championships. One of the sideboard choices he made was Phyrexian Negators for the control matchup, something Paul Mastriano also ran in his championship-winning list. That’s the first thing I want to test.

TPS versus Itou Tez, Round 3: Post-Board, Revised SB Plan

Because of Negator, Tez sideboard plan will also change. I will keep Chain of Vapor and Fire/Ice in.

Game 1: Tez mulligans a six-land hand with Dark Confidant into: Polluted Delta, Mana Crypt, Force of Will, Merchant Scroll, Underground Sea, Mana Drain. TPS draws: Island, Gifts Ungiven, Duress, Ponder, Delta, Yawgmoth’s Will, and Necropotence. TPS draws Gifts and Duresses Force. TPS Duresses Force, and Ponders into Duress, which is Drained. Tez holds up a second Drain, and Drains a Demonic Tutor to play Merchant Scroll for Ancestral, Ancestral and Bob. However, then TPS resolves Necro, and Force on Tinker stops assemblage of Vault plus Key.

1-0

Game 2: Tez mulligans a hand with all lands and Vamp into: Yawgmoth’s Will, Mystical Tutor, Arcane Lab, Fact, Mox Pearl, Underground Sea. TPS drew: Mox Jet, Vault, Island, Black Lotus, Twister, Mystical Tutor and DT. Turn 1 Timetwister resolves and TPS plays Duress, Negator, Petal, and Ancestral Recall. However, this game ends up being extremely close. TPS is able to Chain Time Vault to buy one more turn to win the game.

2-0

Game 3: Tez opening hand: Mox Sapphire, Mox Emerald, Swamp, Delta, Ancestral Recall, Arcane Lab, Trinisphere. TPS: Imperial Seal, Sea, Mystical, Mox Pearl, Negator, Jar, Cabal Ritual. Turn 1 Trinisphere locks TPS out.

2-1

Game 4: TPS: Mire, Jet, Academy, Negator, Duress, Vamp, Mox Ruby. Tez: Force, Sea, Time Walk, Tinker, Lab, Force, LoA. TPS plays turn 1 Duress, taking Force. Tez plays land, go. TPS plays Vamp Twister because of the strength of Tez’s hand. It draws TPS into a turn 2 win unless Tez has a Force. Tez does not.

3-1

Game 5: Tez has Ancestral, Island, Drain, Bob, Emerald, Lab, Trinisphere. But TPS has: Misdirection, Delta, Delta, Vamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Timetwister. You can see where this one goes. Ancestral is Misdirected and TPS draws the nuts. However, Tez has turn two Arcane Lab. TPS has tutored for Tinker, and resolved it for Leviathan. However, Tez finds Hurkyl’s Recall. Negator deals 4 of the last 5 damage, with a Tendrils for 2 life finishing the game.

4-1

Game 6: Turn 1 Negator, turn 2 Twister, turn 3 Necro.

5-1

Game 7: Tez draws: Delta, Island, Fact, Will, Trinisphere, Drain, Time Vault. TPS draws: Sea, Duress, Duress, DT, Mana Crypt, Jar, Delta. Tez leads with Delta. TPS draws Force and Duresses Trinisphere. Tez draws Force. TPS plays turn 2 Duress and Demonic Tutor for Ancestral. TPS plays upkeep Vamp for Tinker, and Tinkers. Tez Forces, and TPS Forces. Inkwell goes all the way.

6-1

Game 8: TPS has turn 1 Ancestral Recall, turn 2 Duress plus Negator. Negator doesn’t really matter because Desire for 5 wins the game when it reveals Yawgmoth’s Will and Dark Ritual.

7-1

Game 9: Tez mulligans a no-land hand into one that has turn 1 Time Walk turn 2 Trinisphere. TPS does not have Force of Will. However, incredibly, after making two land drops, TPS makes a third land drop on turn 4, and plays Mana Crypt. From there, it’s able to play two spells a turn. Tez draws junk, including Leviathan and Fire/Ice. TPS turns the game around and wins.

8-1

Game 10: TPS has turn 1 Ritual Negator after a mulligan to 6. Tez has turn 1 Mox, Sol Ring, Top, land, Bob, turn 2 upkeep Mystical for Tinker and Tinker for Leviathan. TPS plays turn 2 land and turn 3 land and Rebuild, which resolves. Negators go all the way.

Final score: 9-1

I can’t say that the final score is completely attributable to Phyrexian Negator. But I can say that Phrexian Negator made a noticeable, positive difference in post-board outcomes for TPS. Arcane Lab is devastating for TPS. It means you either have to bounce it or you have to find Tinker and protect your Leviathan. Negator gives you a trump to Lab, because it slows your opponent down at the same time. If you can resolve a Negator with a Lab in play, it’s very difficult to lose. Also, Negator is naturally fueled by the cards the deck plays, like Rituals and Moxen. Even if they don’t have a lot of hate out against you, Negator can create pressure such that they have to devote their resources to addressing it.

But what if your opponent doesn’t have Arcane Lab and Trinisphere? Let’s try TPS against another leading Bob Tez list.

Eastman’s Tezzeret

2 Repeal
1 Fire/Ice
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rebuild
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
3 Dark Confidant
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Time Walk
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Mystic Remora
2 Leyline of the Void
1 Yixlid Jailer
2 Pithing Needle
3 Ingot Chewer
3 Pyroclasm

TPS versus Eastman Tez, Round 4: Pre-Board

TPS won the match roll.

Game 1: TPS opens: Black Lotus, Cabal Ritual, Bloodstained Mire, Ancestral Recall, Mox Emerald, Mox Sapphire, Inkwell Leviathan. Tez opened: Sphinx, Time Vault, Bob, Demonic Tutor, and 3 lands. That does not seem very good. I could be wrong, but I mulliganed into: Drain, Repeal, Delta, Demonic Tutor, Drain, Fire/Ice. TPS played turn 1 Ancestral, which resolved, drawing Dark Ritual, Mana Vault and Duress. Duress takes Demonic Tutor. Tez topdecks Ancestral and plays it (drawing Sea, Jet, Pearl). TPS draws Jar for the turn. It plays Jar instead of Leviathan. Jar resolves and TPS breaks it. TPS draws decently with a bunch of mana, Timetwister (which it doesn’t play) and cycles Rebuild into Fact or Fiction which finds Yawgmoth’s Will for the eventual win by replaying all of the rituals, Duressing, Ancestral into Mystical, Mystical for Tendrils and Brainstorm into the Tendrils.

1-0

Incidentally, if TPS has played Leviathan, it would have lost as Rebuild was near the top of the Tez library.

Game 2: Tez has: Sea, Drain, Scroll, Repeal, Strand, Repeal, Sphinx. Close call, but keep. TPS has: Jar, Cabal Ritual, Delta, Lotus Petal, Inkwell Leviathan, Force, Force. Also a close call. Mulligan into: Time Walk, Force, Cabal Ritual, Mox Pearl, Mox Emerald, Island. Tez plays turn 1 Strand. TPS plays Time Walk. Tez plays Sea (but drew Ancestral). TPS draws Desire and plays Lotus, holding up hardcast Force. On TPS’s end-step, Tez plays Repeal on Black Lotus. TPS plays Desire for 4, and unfortunately for Tez, it’s got Rebuild, Duress and Tendrils, which is enough to win no matter what, through Tez’s triple counters (even though TPS has two Forces in hand).

2-0

Game 3: For the third game in a row, Tez has Ancestral: Sapphire, Delta, Ancestral, Mana Crypt, Pearl, Mana Drain, Tez. TPS drew: Swamp, Misdirection, Fact, Mox Ruby, Force, Inkwell Leviathan, and Duress. TPS leads with Swamp, Duress, taking Tezzeret (Tez can play turn 1 Tezzeret). Tez draws Sphinx (again) and plays Sapphire, Delta, Pearl, go. TPS draws Cabal Ritual, and plays Ruby and passes. Tez draws Tinker. It plays Mana Crypt and casts Tinker. TPS Forces, pitching Inky. Tez responds with Ancestral, which is Misdirected. TPS draws, in order: Imperial Seal, Ponder, Force. TPS untaps and plays Imperial Seal for Necro. Tez draws another Drain. TPS untaps and plays Ritual Necro, which is Drained, but is met by Force, pitching Ponder. Necro draws 9 cards. Tez draws Fire/Ice, which may lead to a surprise win. TPS untaps and plays a bunch of mana and casts Tendrils with 6 additional copies. Tez Drains one so it can untap and play Sphinx (with Mox Pearl), which it does. TPS drew an additional 9 cards though, and untapped and won by playing Grim Tutor for Yawgmoth’s Will (with Force backup).

3-0

Game 4: Tez: Delta, Time Vault, Sol Ring, Gifts Ungiven, Drain, Sea, Island. TPS: Island, Gifts, Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Sea. Tez plays Sea, Sol Ring, Time Vault. TPS draws Lotus Petal and plays Sea and Brainstorms into: Tinker, Mana Vault, Delta. This is very tricky for TPS. There are many insane plays. TPS plays: Lotus, Petal, sacrifice Black Lotus for BBB, play Dark Ritual and Mana Vault. It then played Tinker of Mana Vault. Tinker resolved and TPS found Jar and cast Vamp for Tendrils, broke the Jar and found Mox, Mox, Duress and Tendrils for the super win on turn 1.

4-0

Game 5: TPS: Sol Ring, Necro, Chain of Vapor, Time Walk, Sea, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual. Tez: Delta, Jet, Ruby, Sphinx, Brainstorm, Sea, Volcanic Island. Keep on account of Brainstorm and on the draw. TPS resolves turn 1 Necro. Tez Brainstorms into Scroll and Ancestral. TPS has turn 2 a bunch of artifacts, Academy, Time Walk, Gifts and win.

5-0

Game 6: TPS opens: Island, Ruby, Petal, Scroll, Ponder, Force, Force. Tez opens: Brainstorm, Scroll, Island, Volc, Delta, Drain, Yawgmoth’s Will, Tinker. Tez plays turn 1 Brainstorm and sees Mystical, Time Vault and Sea. TPS plays turn 1 Scroll for Ancestral and plays it. TPS has turn 3 Bargain with double Force to win through Force and Drain.

6-0

Game 7: TPS mulligans a no land hand into: Bargain, Delta, Mystical, Ancestral, Sapphire, Tendrils. Tez draws: Ancestral, Sea, Volc, Force, Echoing Truth, Rebuild, Sapphire. TPS plays turn 1 Ancestral which is Forced. Tez plays turn 1 Ancestral and Sol Ring. Tez pulls way ahead and wins by Draining Necro into Gifts with Yawgmoth’s Will in hand.

6-1

Game 8: Tez opening hand: Bob, Mystical, Vamp, Echoing Truth, Mana Crypt, Sea and Top. Tez has turn 1 Bob + Top. But if it plays Bob on turn 1, it loses. Instead, it plays Top off of Mana Crypt, peeks, and sees Duress to take Necro. It plays turn 2 Bob only because it puts a Force on top them (Force was 4th card down at beginning of game) and tries to Force Ancestral, but Force is Forced. However, Mystical for Drain and keeping Drain hidden on top with Top allows Tez to survive being Duressed and then Drain Yawgmoth’s Will for the eventual win.

6-2

Game 9: TPS played turn 1 Duress. Tez topdecked Bob and played it on turn 1. TPS Chained it. Tez replayed Bob. TPS played Ponder and then Grim Tutor. Tez played Key and Tinker, but TPS Forced Tinker. TPS Mysticaled for Gifts, but it was countered and TPS never recovered.

6-3

Game 10: Tez: Mana Drain, Vampiric Tutor, Volcanic Island, Mana Crypt, Volcanic Island, Gifts Ungiven, Tezzeret. TPS: Cabal Ritual, Swamp, Polluted Delta, Timetwister, Memory Jar, Force of Will, Mox Jet. TPS forces through turn 2 Timetwister, and Duresses a Thoughtseize. Tez draws Duress, plays it and Time Walks. TPS’s hand was: Force, Desire, Ritual, Ritual, Yawgmoth’s Will, Memory Jar. TPS untapped and won. It didn’t matter what Tez Duressed, TPS still won. I played with Tez taking Yawgmoth’s Will, Dark Ritual, and Memory Jar, and under all three lines of play TPS still won.

Final Score: 7-3

Remarks:

This is consistent with the previous bout against Tezzeret. The Duress effects definitely helped Tezzeret, but the lack of mulliganing offset that advantage. TPS had to mulligan less frequently in this set of pre-board games, and that made a clear difference. The one game that TPS did mulligan, game 7, TPS lost.

Let’s see what happens post-board.

TPS versus Eastman Tez, Round 5: Post-Board

As before, I will bring in three Negators. Tez will bring in the two Remoras and the Red Blasts, per Eastman’s suggestion. If I sense that the Red Blasts aren’t pulling their weight, I’ll cut them.

Game 1: TPS: Force, Mox Jet, Imperial Seal, Duress, Duress, Dark Ritual, Merchant Scroll. Tez: Mulligan no land hand into: Emerald, Island, Delta, Tinker, Scroll, Drain. TPS plays turn 1 Imperial Seal for Necro. Tez topdecks Time Walk, and plays Time Walk. TPS plays turn 2 Dark Ritual, Necro, with Force backup. That eventually won the game.

1-0

No sideboard cards came up that game.

Game 2: TPS: Mox Jet, Ancestral, Force, Necro, Dark Ritual, Inky, Scroll. Tez: Scroll, Mana Crypt, Island, Duress, Bob, Drain, Sapphire. Tez plays turn 1 Island Sapphire. TPS plays turn 1 Necro, with Force of Will backup. Turn 2 Scroll for Ancestral is Forced. TPS continues to slow roll. Tez tries to play Remora, but it, too, is Forced. Eventually, TPS plays Gifts for good stuff and wins with Will.

2-0

Game 3: TPS: Gifts, Jar, Dark Ritual, Negator, Desire, Inkwell Leviathan, Swamp. Tez: Jet, Walk, Top, Island, Thoughtseize, Pyroblast, Mox Ruby. TPS keeps it and plays turn 1 Negator. A Bob briefly stood in the way, but Negator went all the way because Repeals were Pyroblast. I’m taking out the Pyroblasts and putting Repeals back in.

3-0

Game 4: Tezzeret had to mulligan a no-land hand into a hand with Drain and 5 mana sources. Negator was Drained, but Jar resolved and eventually won the game.

4-0

Game 5: TPS Misdirected Tezzeret’s turn 1 Ancestral after Scrolling for its own. TPS won shortly thereafter.

5-0

Game 6: Turn 1 Negator does not race the combo assembled.

5-1

Game 7: TPS: Delta, Force, Scroll, Fact, Petal, Sea, Swamp. Tez: Gifts, Bob, Sphinx, Repeal, Force, Ancestral, Sea. TPS scrolls for Ancestral. Tez plays its own. Force meets Force. TPS resolves its Ancestral too. Tez Duresses TPS. TPS topdecks Yawgmoth’s Will and replays Ancestral. Necro hits and a Tendrils for 14 plus one swing with Negator is enough to win.

6-1

Game 8: TPS: Dark Ritual, Negator, Sapphire, Jar, I. Seal, Delta, Ancestral. Tez: Duress, Thoughtseize, Ruby, Island, Volc, Tez, Delta. Tez plays turn 1 Thoughtseize, taking Ancestral. TPS plays turn 1 Delta into Sea, Dark Ritual, Mox, Imperial Seal for Time Walk, Negator. Negator, Time Walk, Negator ends the game quickly. Not even a Bob can halt that parade.

7-1

Game 9: TPS: Duress, Negator, Dark Ritual, Black Lotus, Swamp, Force, Force. Tez: Island, Academy, Sol Ring, Time Walk, Tinker, Jet, Volc. TPS plays turn one Duress on Tinker and Negator. Tez plays turn one Time Walk. Negator wins.

8-1

Game 10: Tez: Mystic Remora, Island, Delta, Drain, Strand, Drain, Tinker. TPS: Delta, Mire, Scroll, Black Lotus, Negator, Mox Sapphire, Desire. Turn 1: Remora; Mire, Lotus (draw Island), Negator. Turn 2: (draw Thoughtseize), pay for Remora, play Delta into Sea, Thoughtseize, taking Scroll; play Delta and attack (15). Turn 3: (Draw Mox Pearl), pay Remora and play Mox and Island; attack with Negator (10). TPS’s hand is: Ritual, Bargain, Ponder (the last three draws), and Sapphire and Desire. Turn 4: Tez lets Remora go (draws Force) and plays Tinker for Sphinx with double Drain and Force in hand. Ponder reveals Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual and Duress.

Now things get incredible. TPS Ponders a Dark Ritual into its hand. Tez untaps and draws Vamp. Its hand is now Vamp, Drain, Drain, Force, with 4 lands in play and Sphinx. It attacks with Sphinx and goes to 13 life sending TPS to 14.

TPS untaps, draws Duress, breaks both fetches, going to 12. It then plays Duress, which is Drained. It plays Ritual, Ritual, Bargain, which is also Drained, but it Misdirects pitching Desire. TPS is tapped out.

At 12 life, TPS draws: Mystical Tutor, Swamp, Force of Will, Force of Will, Ancestral, Chain of Vapor, Force of Will, and then Delta, at 5 life. It breaks Delta, going to 4, and plays Chain of Vapor on Sphinx. Tez sacs a land to bounce it to Negator. TPS sacrifices a land to bounce it to Bargain, after drawing one more card. Tez plays Vamp on upkeep for Yawgmoth’s Will, but it’s Forced. Tez plays Force, pitching Sphinx. TPS Forces again. TPS Untaps and plays Ancestral and then Swamp and Negator. Negator swings twice and the game ends.

Fascinating game.

Final score: 9-1

This game was an interesting test, since it posed Negator versus Remora directly. Negator seems like the answer to both Remora and Arcane Lab.

Whew! These games took me many hours to play through and notate!

If you are interested in playing out some of these scenarios, I encourage you to draw up the opening hands I drew for yourself and see how they play out and how you would play them out, from both sides of the table.

Conclusion

The TPS list I ran is the same one I ran in the Spring. I wouldn’t change a card in the maindeck. It’s very well suited to the metagame as is. You have a solid foundation with 4 basic lands in the manabase. It can easily win with a Null Rod on the table with Rituals and basic lands. Then, there are two bounce spells, which can be easily found with tutors. The maindeck is already very well tuned.

This deck seems very viable, particularly if the Tezzeret match is as favorable as these test games suggest. The downside to including Negator is the space you lose to fight Ichorid. In order to make room for Negators, I suggest cutting 3 Yixlid Jailers.

In conclusion, here is the TPS list I’d recommend going forward:

Once again, the sideboard plan is:

– 1 Grim Tutor
– 1 Cabal Ritual
– 1 Mox Pearl
+ 3 Phyrexian Negator

Let me stress something: Do not sideboard out Imperial Seal. Imperial Seal is far too good, as the games above attest.

I would not run Time Vault either in the maindeck or the sideboard. It’s suboptimal for a host of reasons I will not reiterate today. Given these results, I would seriously consider TPS as a weapon of choice in upcoming tournaments. I am impressed. I would not be surprised if Tezzeret decks made slight adjustments to combat TPS given the weakness of that matchup for them.

Until next time…

Stephen Menendian