Luck Skill Victory – Grand Prix: Los Angeles Report and TEPS Primer *Winner*

In the weeks after Worlds, I presumed I would play Faeries at Grand Prix: LA and even wrote an article to that effect. Mono-Blue Control is pretty much the kind of deck I enjoy playing, and it seemed like it had the requisite percentages to justify playing it. I was sure enough, in fact, that I was able to assemble an all-foil copy of the deck in question (with help from some of my friends). About two weeks before the Grand Prix, Josh Utter-Leyton kept telling me how good TEPS was. I tested with Josh for Worlds, so even though I had some reservations about TEPS, I decided to give it a try. After playing a bunch of games of Zoo with four Sculler and three Thoughtseize main and the fourth Thoughtseize in the sideboard against Josh with TEPS, and getting consistently destroyed, I began possibly ditching the Fae. I even had a good opportunity to see the deck in action, as my former roommate Matt Benjamin took TEPS to a 2nd and 3-4th place finish in back-to-back Grand Prix Trials. Sadly, he was one game away from winning the byes in each trial, as he lost in the finals and then lost in the semifinals where I was waiting in the finals.

Either way, I was pretty impressed by TEPS. Apparently, so was the rest of the Northern California community, as something like twelve to fifteen people from NorCal ended up running TEPS at the Grand Prix. If you lost to TEPS with Tendrils, it is reasonably likely that Josh is to blame. Of course, Orie (as mentioned in Josh Silvestri article about TEPS with Grapeshot) running the four-man queues on MTGO nonstop may have also increased awareness of the deck. The deck was still pretty under the radar, as even though everyone knew of the deck, not many actually expected it. TEPS also falls under the category of decks that people assume are beaten by the appropriate hate cards. While yes, Stifle does in fact stop the Storm mechanic, throwing three Stifles in your sideboard by no means solves the matchup. I figured that even if people anticipated some number of TEPS decks, they would just add a few Stifles or such and be done with it. Even Trickbind, which is much more difficult to play around, isn’t the end of the world. Gigadrowse, or even just having enough mana to go off twice, solves that particular problem, and Trickbind wasn’t a card I thought I would face much of. Other answers to TEPS are similarly beatable, and I thought we covered our bases quite well with the sideboard.

The list:

The maindeck actually didn’t change from Josh’s original list, as there really isn’t much that can be tinkered with. The only slots I could possibly see altering are the two Sleight of Hand and the two Electrolyze. Sleight of Hand is pretty bad, but you need another cantrip and it’s the best after Ponder. The deck can’t afford to play any more lands, but a cheap cantrip both lets you keep mana-light hands and is useful when flipped off Desire. Electrolyze is hit or miss, as sometimes it’s a blowout, killing a Tidehollow Sculler or Vendilion Clique, and sometimes it just rots in your hand as you try and win on turn 3 or 4 and hence have no time to actually cast it. GerryT opted to play two Magma Jet over the Electrolyze, but I honestly couldn’t say which is better. Magma Jet is better the turns before you go off, but Electrolyze drawing the card instantly is pretty important once you have moved into the final turn. In summary, I would leave the Electrolyzes how they are.

The sideboard took a little more work, as the last couple of slots were a subject of much discussion. The slots that were pretty much locked in were:

2 Echoing Truth
2 Shattering Spree
2 Ad Nauseam
2 Pact of Negation
2 Gigadrowse

This isn’t to say that we wouldn’t want more of any of these spells, just that two of each was the minimum number.

After watching Matt battle Faeries a bunch of times during the GPTs, we came to the conclusion that a mix of Gigadrowse and Pact was the best way to combat them. It is almost always best to draw one Gigadrowse and one Pact than two of either, and the second Gigadrowse is definitely worse than the second Pact. For that reason we split it three and two, giving us a good five disruptive slots against what we presumed was going to be the most popular deck.

Two Echoing Truth was just asking for trouble, as we really wanted three in order to safely have an answer to Pyrostatic Pillar, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Trinisphere, or any other nonsense our opponents would dare try and stop us with.

Two Ad Nauseam was a good number, as having more just makes them weaker by adding more expensive cards to the deck. My only loss on the weekend was to Michael Jacob, but he didn’t actually kill me in any of the games. Ad Nauseam handled that, showing that there definitely are risks when playing with such a card.

Shattering Spree is just insane against Affinity, but the matchup is favorable enough that we thought a third was probably overkill.

Lastly we added Brain Freezes, as a concession to try and beat Elves and the mirror. In both cases the Freeze isn’t a guaranteed trump, but it can certainly catch unwary players off-guard if they contribute too much to the storm count.

That wraps up the deck, so let’s move on to the tournament itself. The games all go pretty similarly; after all, this is an evil combo deck with little to no interaction, so I will cover them briefly then talk more about the deck. After an uneventful drive (where I was one of those bad passengers that just sleeps infinite), our crew of five arrived at the Radisson at LAX. We collected our free entry to the Grand Prix, as the promo Mox and playmat conveniently sold for exactly as much as it cost to enter, and went to go eat dinner. We got a taste of Los Angeles, as the ten-minute drive there was dwarfed by the hour and forty minute drive back due to a “small” amount of traffic. Nice city, honestly. It took us that long to go about three blocks, but I guess that is the price to pay for having just about everything at your fingertips. Atypically, we had already pretty much wrapped up our deck preparation, so Webter and I passed the time with some enjoyable Vintage battling. We were both prepared to play in the Sunday Mox Tournament should things go awry, but unfortunately missed out on it. After the little traffic debacle, we didn’t have much desire left to stay at the site, so we headed to our friend’s place and crashed for a solid seven hours.

On the way to the site in the morning, Gerry told me over the phone that he thought the tournament started at nine, which was awkward since we left around 9:15. As it turned out, 10:00 was in fact the actual starting time, although it ended up starting late as these events tend to do. There really isn’t much to be done about that, it is just how it is. The decklists got turned in, and I just wanted to play. Not to say that I don’t appreciate the byes or any nonsense like that, just once I get all ready for a tournament the last thing I want to do is wait another four hours before playing. Time passed soon enough, and I sat down for my first round.

Round 4 versus Tim Aten

Game 1: I knew Tim was playing Burn, so I kept a hand that wasn’t too fast. Burn can’t usually kill you until around turn 5, and my double Remand probably pushes that to turn 6 or 7. Come turn 6, and I still hadn’t found a Desire, which was bad news. I end up dying on turn 7 or so, as I just do nothing but Remand a few spells. This of course was exactly why Gerry didn’t want to play TEPS, as sometimes you just don’t find Desire.

Sideboarding: +3 Echoing Truth —2 Electrolyze —1 Sleight of Hand

Game 2: I suspend a Lotus, and he doesn’t even have that fast a draw. I Remand Sulfuric Vortex once, then kill him the turn after it comes down for the second time.

Game 3: I keep a kind of sketchy hand of:

Tendrils of Agony
Rite of Flame
Rite of Flame
Echoing Truth
Dreadship Reef
Steam Vents
Dreadship Reef

This is pretty slow, but it has an answer to Pyrostatic Pillar and Tendrils plus some chargelands and rituals. I can easily just charge a bunch and cast a mini-Tendrils to buy some time if I don’t draw much, and keeping a mana-heavy hand is usually fine. Turns out he kept a loose one too, and attacks me with Mogg Fanatic plus a couple Blinkmoth Nexus for a few turns. I draw Remand and Seething Song, and eventually have enough charge counters to play some spells, Tendrils him, Remand the Tendrils, and replay it.

4-0

Round 5 versus Mike Jacob

Game 1: MJ is on a sort of aggro Rock deck, like Death Cloud but with Tarmogoyf and Bitterblossom over the slower cards like Death Cloud and Ravenous Baloth. He doesn’t really put much pressure on, as he can’t seem to find any of his hand disruption spells. This allows me to go off unimpeded around turn 6 or so.

Sideboarding: +2 Ad Nauseam +1 Brain Freeze (protection in case Tendrils gets Extirpated) —2 Electrolyze —1 Sleight of Hand

Game 2: MJ slows me down a bit with a Thoughtseize, then plays a Choke. Normally Choke isn’t too bad, but my double Island draw is totally punished by it. I never hit Red mana to start chaining Rituals, since he Seal of Primordiums my Lotus on upkeep. I am forced to Ad Nauseam while at a relatively low ten life, and die before I hit the right (and unlikely) combination of cards needed.

Game 3: My opening hand is quite explosive:

Rite of Flame
Rite of Flame
Steam Vents
Dreadship Reef
Manamorphose
Ad Nauseam
Sleight of Hand

My turn 1 Sleight gets me a Seething Song, and I am all set to Ad Nauseam on turn 2. He Raven’s Crime’s me on turn 1, and I pitch Dreadship Reef. Turn 2 I go for it, and cast Ad Nauseam floating five Red mana (I drew the third Rite of Flame). Unfortunately, I die before I hit either a Manamorphose or a Cascade Bluffs, which I think is probably an unlikely occurrence.

4-1

Round 6 versus James Nguyen

Game 1: James mulligans to five, then leads with Wooded Foothills into Stomping Grounds. I assume he is Zoo without a one-drop, but a turn 2 Overgrown Tomb plus Raven’s Crime reveals him to be Death Cloud splashing Red. I had suspended Lotus turn 1, and when it comes out I easily can storm up a lethal Desire.

Sideboarding: same as versus MJ

Game 2: James plays a turn 1 Tranquil Thicket, and I just lay a land and Ponder, then suspend a Lotus. He has a turn 2 Birds of Paradise off the Thicket and Overgrown Tomb plus Raven’s Crime. I remark that the Lotus was actually just a decoy, and proceed to Desire for five on turn 2, which is really not a typical draw. I hit Ad Nauseam on the fourth Desire copy, so I cast it while the original Desire is on the stack in case I need to Remand it. This turns out to not be necessary, as Ad Nauseam hits another Desire and enough mana to cast it as well.

5-1

Round 7 versus Guillaume Wafo-Tapa

Game 1: I had heard that Guillaume was UB Tron, but had no idea what exactly was in his deck. Worst case scenario he has a bunch of Chalice of the Void and maybe some random Thoughtseizes, with an expected countermagic suite of Condescend plus Mana Leak or Remand. It turned out that he really had nothing for the matchup, which was just fine by me. I even had a hand without Desire game 1, and was starting to get worried after his third Thirst/Careful Consideration. Still, when I started casting Rites and Songs he started using Mana Leaks, and we got to enough spells that my Tendrils was lethal without even using a Desire.

Sideboarding: +3 Pact of Negation +2 Shattering Spree —2 Electrolyze —2 Sleight of Hand —1 Desperate Ritual

Game 2: He mulligans to six, and goes turn 1 Land, Mox, Dimir Signet. I have the turn 2 Shattering Spree for 2, and that sets him back quite a bit. I get a few turns of him doing nothing, and manage to build up another Tendrils hand. This time I even have Pact of Negation to really rock the counterwar, and again Tendrils him to death without Desire.

6-1

Round 8 versus Nathan Ward (more commonly known as Powder in NorCal, although I have no idea why)

Game 1: Powder can usually be seen sporting some rogue action, but I figured he was still Affinity like the last GPT I saw him play. It turned out to be the case, so it was pretty good for me that I won the die roll and had a Lotus. He can’t kill me before the Lotus comes in, and I storm out on turn 4.

Sideboarding: +2 Shattering Spree +3 Echoing Truth —2 Electrolyze (I didn’t see Ancient Den and therefore Canonist game 1) —2 Sleight of Hand —1 Desperate Ritual

Game 2: He has a Thoughtseize to disrupt me, but only two Frogmites and two Nexus to actually pressure me. When I Peer Through Depths on his end of turn, I can either take Desire and Desire for six or so in two turns due to a Lotus, or take Shattering Spree and burn some rituals to destroy his board. I opt to take the Desire, since if he had Ravager or Plating he would have played them the turn prior, which meant he just has one turn to peel either for the win. It turns out he drew Master of Etherium, which isn’t enough to kill me. The Desire gets there handily on my next turn (I actually never once whiffed on a Desire in the tournament, although I also pretty much always had Desire for five or more).

7-1

Round 9 versus James Wise

Game 1: I soon realize James is playing the all-foil Beasts deck that he and Kyle Sanchez imported directly from Texas. This is good news, as from what I saw in the prior rounds, I could basically goldfish against him. He can’t really kill me before turn 6 or 7, barring a double Woolly Thoctar draw, and Remand is basically Time Walk. Sure enough, not much happens game 1, and I Desire into Tendrils around turn 7 or so. I did have to appeal a ruling this round, and it happens to be the same ruling I have now appealed three times. I ask the judge for permission to go to the bathroom and am promptly denied. I appeal, and am promptly granted said permission. I don’t really understand why some judges seem to just categorically deny such requests, but I have successfully appealed that ruling now three times over the course of my tournament life.

Sideboarding: +3 Echoing Truth —2 Electrolyze —1 Sleight of Hand

Who knows what lurks in the Beasts sideboard, and I didn’t feel like losing to a random Ivory Mask or some such.

Game 2: After board James has a little more play, and Thoughtseizes my Ponder on turn 1. This leaves me with a bunch of mana, and ample time to find a Mind’s Desire. I do in fact find a Desire, and his Krosan Grip on my Lotus just ups the storm count. Desire, don’t fizzle, etc.

8-1

Of my crew, Web finished at 7-1-1, Eirik (the other roommate) and Matt both at 7-2. Matt and Web were TEPS, while Eirik was Zoo with Sulfuric Vortex in the sideboard, which was awesome for him all tournament against any sort of control deck.

Round 10 versus Jake Woods

Game 1: I have no idea what I am playing against, but I hope it isn’t a deck with Engineered Explosives as I suspend two Lotuses on the play. He Lava Spikes me turn 1, to which I mentally pump the fist. When turn 4 rolls around, Desire easily takes it home.

Sideboarding: +3 Echoing Truth —2 Electrolyze —1 Sleight of Hand

Game 2: He fails to play a land on turn 2, but hits on turn 3. I Remand a Pyrostatic Pillar once, then Echoing Truth it after it finally sticks. I find another Remand off a Peer Through Depths, and he refuses to replay the Pillar. He just keeps casting one burn spell a turn, which I can shrug off for the most part. I think if he just casts Pillar every turn until it sticks for the second time, I probably end up losing. As is, I find Desire and go off while at a relatively healthy seven life.

9-1

Round 11 versus Forrest Pitts

Dane did a good job covering the match, although I don’t know if he could really convey how surprised I was that I lost game 2. Forrest did literally nothing but attack with a 2/2 Wild Nacatl for something like six turns, but I just could never find a Desire. After him missing his second land both games 1 and 2, I figured he was in for a good draw game 3, which was kind of what happened.

Feature Match !

10-1

Round 12 versus Carlos Romao

Game 1: I keep a Lotus plus gas hand on the play, and Carlos just fools around with some cycle lands. He does start to Raven’s Crime me, but it isn’t fast enough to stop me from Desiring for enough on the turn my Bloom comes in.

Sideboarding: +2 Ad Nauseam +1 Echoing Truth —2 Electrolyze —1 Desperate Ritual

I sided in the one random Echoing Truth because Carlos had a small White splash, and I didn’t want to just die to an unexpected Teeg or Canonist or the like. I didn’t think he had anything like that, but I really didn’t want to be caught completely unprepared.

Game 2: I keep a pretty interesting hand:

Lotus Bloom
Lotus Bloom
Lotus Bloom
Remand
Seething Song
Dreadship Reef
Steam Vents

He Raven’s Crimes me on turn 1, and I discard the Song. All three Blooms get suspended, and I am soon down to zero cards in hand. It is a bit funny, since he has the Crime plus Loam engine going, but I have no hand to be assaulted. I of course peel Ponder the turn all the Blooms arrive, and Ponder into Ad Nauseam plus Mind’s Desire. I draw the Ad Nauseam, and just have to hit any mana source (including land!) to cast it and Desire in the same turn. I go down to three but end up finding a Rite of Flame (and a bunch of Blue nonsense) and Desire for seven. That hits another Desire, and that’s that. Against Death Cloud, you really just want to get a bunch of mana on the board and draw into Ad Nauseam, which is exactly what happened here.

Round 13 versus Asher Hecht

Game 1: He wins the die roll, which puts me at a pretty severe disadvantage (I only lost two on the weekend actually, which is pretty insane when your deck relies on Lotus Bloom). He suspends the dreaded Bloom, and I can’t stop him from killing me the turn the Bloom comes out.

Sideboarding: +3 Brain Freeze +2 Pact of Negation (on the play I like two, on the draw just one) +2 Gigadrowse
-2 Tendrils —2 Electrolyze —2 Sleight of Hand —1 (or zero if you only bring in the one Pact) Desperate Ritual

Game 2: I end up with a pretty lackluster draw, missing my third land drop. I figure I am pretty dead, especially since he has Trickbind after board to complement his Gigadrowse and fully deal with my Brain Freezes. He doesn’t appear to have either, and starts going off on his turn 5 or so without tapping me down. He Desires for seven, to which I have no response, since Brain Freezing 24 cards would do nothing. His Desire hits no Grapeshots or Trickbinds, and when he Desires for 14 I step in and Freeze his whole library. Oddly enough, that works, and I win a game I was almost sure I couldn’t.

Game 3: This time we both have enough lands, and are passing back and forth. I Gigadrowse him down to just two lands (I tried to get all but one but he had the Remand, so he is left with two up). I start to go off, but he has the expected Trickbind for my Desire. At this point I have Brain Freeze and Remand in hand, with three Blue and one Red mana floating. My outs are any ritual, Manamorphose, Desire, Brain Freeze, Remand, or Lotus. I flip a Seething Song, and have enough mana to Freeze, Remand it, and Freeze again for everything.

Round 14 versus Brett Piazza

ID

Round 15 versus Mark Herberholz

ID

The Top 8 was well covered, and I will refer readers to the coverage so I can get to some more talk about the deck without making this longer than it already is. Plus, the TEPS mirror and TEPS against Affinity aren’t exactly the most enthralling matchups ever, since it is mostly just a race. The whole Brain Freeze play is interesting in the mirror, and I will get to that in a second.

After LA, TEPS is bound to reappear as one of the top decks in the format. There were four TEPS decks in the Top 8 of the Sunday PTQ even. The fact is, it has good to great matchups against really every deck but Elves, which makes it a very good choice for most metagames. Granted, decks will be more hostile to it now that it is more of a known factor, but TEPS remains a very dangerous deck in the hands of a patient enough pilot.

First off, changes I would make. I definitely like the Tendrils kill more than the Grapeshot kill, since it is much easier to assemble the requisite storm. I won a number of games just off my opponent trying to counter my rituals but leaving me with enough mana to simply Tendrils them out, and Remanding your own Tendrils is almost always lethal. It is also easier to get there on small Desires, as just flipping Tendrils on a Desire for five is pretty deadly as well.

The Electrolyzes were a little awkward, but I don’t really know what I would want instead. Justin Stanley (who started 9-0) had one Electrolyze and one Vendilion Clique, but that seems a little odd. I tried the Clique after the GP, and would usually rather just have the card from Electrolyze instead of the Clique’s effect. Like I said before, Electrolyze is a bit borderline but I really can’t name a card I would prefer to have instead.

That leaves the maindeck intact, which is odd. I usually don’t play a deck for fifteen tournament rounds and stay happy with everything in the main, but TEPS is such a tight deck that I would caution against messing with it too much. I also don’t like the manabase that Asher ran so much, since I don’t really see a need for basic Mountain or Red fetchlands. By the time you need Red mana you usually have a Steam Vents or Cascade Bluffs, and fetching out basic Island seems pretty important versus both Blood Moon and for preserving your life total.

The sideboard can definitely be tweaked, although it again is mostly where I think it should be. I was very happy with and therefore wouldn’t change:

2 Ad Nauseam
2 Shattering Spree
3 Echoing Truth
2 Brain Freeze

I could see tweaking the numbers on Pacts and Gigadrowse to suit what you expect, as especially if Trickbind and the mirror grow in popularity than it becomes more important to have a Gigadrowse before you go off. Even something as simple as switching the number on Pact and Drowse could be enough. Note that I also only put two Brain Freeze as locked in, as I believe that the third can be switched out for something like Trickbind for the mirror. Elves is pretty tough even with the three Freezes, so I don’t know how much having the third really matters. If Faeries remains as popular as it has been (and I don’t really see why it wouldn’t), then Elves will continue to be a pretty suboptimal choice. I really wanted to play Elves for this GP but couldn’t get it to really beat Faeries in any fashion, so I gave up.

That about covers the card choices, but there are a few tips I wanted to give before I wrap this up.

The most common mistake I see people make with TEPS is trying to rush things. Yes, this is a combo deck, and yes it can often go off on turn 3 or 4 (or one or two if you are really lucky). That doesn’t mean you need to go off so early, and every turn you can afford to wait makes your Desire that much deadlier. For example, if you have the tools to Desire for five with no mana floating, but have a Dreadship Reef in play, you really want to wait one or two turns if possible. Each turn that passes gives you one (or two if you play a land each turn) extra mana, as well as an extra draw step. Josh diligently records results, and his notes indicate that a Desire for five with no mana floating and no cards in hand is roughly fifty percent to win. On the other hand, Desire for five with three or more mana floating and another Desire or a Tendrils in hand is upwards of 80% to win. If that extra draw step and extra mana can up your percentage by thirty or more, it seems pretty foolish not to wait. Especially against decks with little to no disruption (Zoo, Affinity, Burn) you can really figure out if its even possible for them to kill you given another turn, and if so, how likely.

Even against Faeries, one of the easiest ways to lose is put yourself in a position where if they counter the right mana spells you fizzle. If you just sit there charging Reefs then they either have to tap out to get a board presence or just accept that you will Desire for a bunch. Vendilion Clique is really the only wrench in that plan, and Electrolyze is at its best when it removes the pressure the Clique provides. Speaking of charging Reef, I vastly prefer to charge Reef than cast a spell, since you get so much better value out of your turns if you wait on casting spells until you can do so and charge in the same turn. A typical (well, ideal) curve against control looks like:

Turn 1 Ponder
Turn 2 Reef, charge
Turn 3 Charge
Turn 4 Peer at the end of their turn, charge

By turn 5 you have a Reef with three counters and hopefully enough gas to push past the two counters they can at most have (with the exception of them being on the play or having a Mox, and having the 2 two-mana counters plus a Spell Snare).

Remanding your own Desire should be a fairly obvious play, but be aware that you should be Peering and Manamorphosing while the original Desire is on the stack if you don’t have the Remand yet.

Desperate Ritual does indeed splice onto both itself and Peer Through Depths, which can generate a nice bit of mana. It does require a heftier down-payment than your other rituals, and is hence more vulnerable to counters, but when the time is right it is a nice bonus. More than one opponent was surprised that I could even splice, so I figure not everyone who wants to play the deck might know about this interaction right off the bat.

Remember that your opponent is working with imperfect information regarding your plans. Against both Wafo-Tapa and Matt Marr, I started the turn with no chance of a lethal Tendrils unless they added to the storm count, but because they didn’t know that, I was able to kill them. It is generally right for them to fight over my first rituals and try to prevent a Desire, but that plays right into the cheaper Tendrils.

In the mirror, always be aware of Brain Freeze. The instants played in the mirror are:

Manamorphose
Remand
Brain Freeze
Seething Song
Desperate Ritual
Gigadrowse
Pact of Negation
Peer Through Depths
Trickbind

With just two mana, it’s possible for your opponent to suddenly ramp the storm count up from six to something like ten and then Brain Freeze you in response to Desire. The easiest way to sidestep all this is Gigadrowse them until they are tapped out, but if that isn’t possible than just be careful. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t try and go off, but always have your library size and the storm count in mind. Once the storm count gets high enough on your turn, try to avoid any spells which force you to draw a card. Even if they mill your whole library, if you can do the same then they need to draw a card first. Asher actually died because his Manamorphose was on the stack above my Remand, and we both were about to have no libraries. This does turn the mirror into a kind of Mexican standoff, but Gigadrowse will pretty much always break the parity, which is another reason to possibly run three.

There are surely more tricks, but that should give you a good start to try and storm Extended. Let me know if anything needs clarification!

LSV