My Grand Entrance into PDC |
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My Grand Entrance into PDC A Classic PDC primer by gimmie When I decided to begin playing PDC, I knew I wanted to play the Classic format. I started looking for a deck with a winning history and one that would fit my play style. After some loose testing, Grand Entrance fit the bill nicely. Here is the list. Decklist 2 Aether Spellbomb Sideboard There were a couple of things that drew me to this deck. It has explosive opening draws and is very adaptable as the game progresses. Its flexibility can be seen in its ability to draw the game out versus fast decks and go aggro against long game decks. There are no outright terrible matchups. I have run this stock list I found of Evu’s in all the PDC matches I have played with GE. I started out playing it that way to find what I liked and didn’t. Every time I thought about adding something, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to get rid of. For this article, I went directly to its designer, Evu, to get some history on the deck and get a more experienced view of some of the matchups. I will italicize his comments throughout this article. Deck History The following is Evu’s description of where the deck came from. It occurred to me one day just how great a card Ninja of the Deep Hours is. It's like Grizzly Bears, but with one of the best abilities imaginable tacked on. I thought: how great would it be if this were actually Grizzly Bears, and you could have a Ninja on turn 2 every time? So I set out to build it. I added a bunch of creatures you could play on turn 1, including Phyrexian Walker so you could play multiple creatures on turn 1 and guarantee that your ninja would get through. Then I added some creatures with CIP abilities, which have obvious synergies with the Ninja. Then I rounded it out with a few weak control measures. The earliest build had things like Shelter and Pacifism. (http://www.pdcmagic.com/gatherling/deck.php?mode=view&id=2901 -- not the earliest, but the earliest that's in Gatherling right now, I think.) I don't know how I decided on adding White to it. Maybe I thought Silver Drake was really good, or maybe it was Shelter that drew me to it. Shelter saw a lot more play back then. It's probably underappreciated now. Anyway, I had no idea what to name it, so I took a cue from a deck I'd seen recently called Orzhov Preview and called it Azorius Preview. I kept calling it that even when Dissension was spoiled and it was obvious that the guild had little to offer the deck. (Azorius First-Wing is hard to cast on turn 2, and not as good as casting a Thought Nibbler on turn 1. I tried Plumes of Peace for a while, but it's not really that great.) After Dissension came out, I decided I had to give it a new name, and so it became Grand Entrance. Other than the obvious reference to the creatures' CIP abilities, I don't know what inspired the name. I've never really liked the name, but it sure beats calling it "UW CIP Aggro-Control". How it Plays One of the best parts about this deck is the ability it has to get out to very fast starts. Many of the opening hands are explosive and immediately put the opponent on their heels. Here are a couple of examples: Turn 1: Island,Phyrexian Walker,Bonesplitter Turn 1: Island,Thought Nibbler A Ninja can let you out tempo many decks if you get it online early and maximize the card advantage by bouncing opposing blockers. The Bonesplitters let your 187 creatures (creatures with comes into play abilities) compete with most creatures that have 4 or less toughness. Add in the well timed blink and it can be downright frustrating to play against this deck. Of course like any deck there are a few weaknesses too. The deck has no direct creature removal. Sometimes it would be nice to just be able to kill that annoying creature rather then playing around it. It also has no direct card draw. You can draw through ninjas, and have some card advantage from the Trinket Mages, and Leonin Squires, but no way to just draw cards. There is also no graveyard removal. You have no way to stop a recurring Grim Harvest or Dredge creature. The power of Grand Entrance is in its explosive openings. Any hand that doesn't give you one is a hand you should seriously consider throwing back. Ideally you want to play a creature (or two) on turn 1, and either equip a Bonesplitter to it or replace it with a ninja on turn 2. I am a little more willing to mulligan with this deck than with others. It's easier to win with a strong five-card hand than with a seven-card hand that doesn't do much in the first couple of turns.
The following is a brief overview of my first 40 matches with the deck and comment on some of the match ups. I will include my thoughts on the match, sideboard plans and look at some possible changes that may help improve the matchup in games 2 and 3. Vs MUC My record: 2-0 This is not an easy matchup. One of the most fun aspects of playing Grand Entrance is the ability to win in the Late Game and the decks ability to make comebacks. That is not going to happen here. Once MUC gets set up it is a very difficult matchup. Cast and attack early and often. They key in this matchup are your Bonesplitters. You want to make your 2/2's into 4/2's to fight the Spire Golems.
-4 Phyrexian Walker
Thoughts on Sideboarding Bringing the Grayscaled Gharials in to join the Thought Nibblers add additional targets for MUC's Piracy Charms, however they provide the deck another turn 1 threat. Possible board changes Add a Bonesplitter Evu’s Take MUC used to be a very easy match-up for GE until it got Piracy Charm; now I think it's roughly 50/50. Your ideal opening, if you can manage it, is a turn-two ninja. It will usually be good for at least two or three free cards, which helps you keep up with MUC's own card advantage. I leave in Riftwatchers (despite the Vanishing) because they're 4/3 with Bonesplitter, which is still pretty good. But I also take out Drakes because trading one creature for a different one isn't that great. I'm not averse to taking out Momentary Blinks for similar reasons -- better to just have more creatures than to have fewer creatures and assume you'll stick enough of them to do any fancy tricks with. Lately I've been trying Myr Servitors in the board as anti-MUC tech. They're early drops, tutorable, and a potentially endless source of card advantage, unimpressive by themselves but good for getting ninjas through. The bad news is that you have to run all four, which takes up a lot of space. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vs GW Cloak My record: 1-2 This is a very close matchup. They have very annoyingly hard to kill creatures. Your goal here is to keep them off of Cloak as much as possible. As answers to their strategy, you can block the Silhana Ledgewalkers and bounce the River Boas. You have Walkers and Drakes to deal with Guardian of the Guildpact. Finally, Viridian Longbow can help kill their non-cloaked creatures. Sideboarding -4 Ninja of the Deep Hours +3 Disenchant Thoughts on Sideboarding Ninjas often sit dead on the board after their initial hit in this matchup and they are weak versus almost every creature in the Cloak arsenal. Possible board changes Add Veiling Oddity Evu’s take Kingritz came up with the idea of Cloudchaser Kestrel in the sideboard for the Cloak match-up. Not only is Blinking it pretty great, but a Cloak turned white will fall right off Guardian of the Guildpact. Even so, this match-up is rough; as with any green creature deck, their creatures outclass yours pretty quickly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vs Orzhov My record: 2-1 They tend to be slower than GE. Try to take advantage of this and start quickly. Throw back slow hands. Sideboarding No changes Thoughts on Sideboarding None of the current board options come in here. Possible board changes Add Veiling Oddity Evu’s Take I don't know about these sideboard suggestions, although I also don't have any better ones. Veiling Oddity is difficult to time right and not necessarily game-breaking in any case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vs Burn My record: 2-1 (no games vs Mono Red Burn) Despite being close, I actually like this matchup. The creature versions are an easier matchup than straight burn. Sideboarding +1 Aven Riftwatcher -1 Viridian Longbow Thoughts on Sideboarding This is the reason to keep a Sunbeam Spellbomb in the board. Possible board changes I don't see using more slots versus this deck. Evu’s Take Agreed on the sideboarding. This is a harder match-up than most people give it credit for. Blinking Riftwatchers is pretty great, but you won't get very many chances to do it before a decent burn deck goldfishes you. If your opponent is more mono-red aggro than burn, be sure to keep the Longbow in, but at the same time, don't waste mana on it in the early turns if you could be making blockers or countering spells instead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vs Affinity My record: 2-0 Affinity is still a good deck. I have had good success so far especially given my current sideboard. Sideboarding +3 Disenchant
Thoughts on Sideboarding This may be overkill but the some of the applicable cards apply to other matchups as well and not just Affinity. Possible Sideboard changes Given the fact that Affinity is not highly played, sideboard slots could be cut from this matchup. Evu’s Take Affinity is one of the best reasons to run Divine Offering. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vs Deep Dog My record: 3-0 This is by far your best matchup. Do the dance of joy if they sit down across from you with this deck! Sideboarding +4 Grayscaled Gharial -2 Silver Drake Thoughts on Sideboarding Grayscaled Gharials are a beating vs Deep Dog. Get them a Bonesplitter ASAP. Possible Sideboard changes Currently no changes. Evu's Take I wouldn't sideboard out the Longbow; Deep Dog has Basking Rootwallas and Looters il-Kor, possibly some pre-Threshold Werebears, and they probably sideboard in River Boa against you. I know it seems like Rootwalla and Boa won't die to a Longbow, but it's actually easier than you might think. At the least, an active Longbow will Fog a Boa each turn. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Decks Some of the other top decks I haven’t played against enough to have a good feel for include but aren’t limited to Blue Fish, MBC, Rats & Removal and one that Evu specifically mentioned… GR Beats deserves mention as well -- it's one of the main reasons I don't play GE more often. As with Cloak, its creatures are just better. Transform into a control deck as much as possible; this is one of the main uses for Temporal Isolation. In Classic we often see random decks from week to week. That is one reason I personally prefer a deck like Grand Entrance, because I find it to be very versatile against these type of decks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So that is 13-4 against the big decks, leaving me 14-9 against the rest of the field over the course of 9 PDC Classic events. I medaled in 6 of the events with 2 first place finishes, 2 second place finishes, 1 top four, and 1 top eight finish.
One card that others substitute, or debate using, is Wormfang Drake in place of Silver Drake.
I've switched Counterspell to Memory Lapse lately. In most cases it's not much different from Counterspell, and it's a lot easier when you can keep WU open and be ready to play Blink or Lapse, as opposed to having to keep WUU open (or decide which spell you're more likely to need).
1 Aven Riftwatcher
Grand Entrance has had some pretty good success in the season 8 classic events, winning 2 TPDC events and totaling up 7 medals through CPDC 8.10 and TPDC 8.11. I have had a lot of fun getting involved in the PDC community and piloting this fun deck to a pretty successful run. Hopefully, this has gotten you interested enough to shuffle it up and try it out. Thanks A special thanks to Evu for providing content, opinions and history of the deck. 29 CommentsLeave a comment |
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2:12 AM, 1 August 2008
I have to put MBC as massive favourite against GE. I recently found myself up againt MBC piloted by Boin using Evu's GE build in a top 4 match.
In game one I threw caution to the wind and gave him everything thing i had, only to have my entire army wiped out by Crypt Rats. With no direct draw and recouring Crypt Rats I had no chance of a comeback.
Nothing in sideboard would edge the game for me either. (No CoP)
In game 2 I was slightly more cautious due to what had happened in the first with the rats. My worries were confirmed with his turn 3 CR drop. From then on I was forced to drip-feed my crits one by one allowing him to keep my side clean with removal spells. Then, once my hand was low on creatures and he had built enough mana he fired out his Ragers and corrupt to swiftly put me to sleep.
The build i was using employed Memory Lapse. Maybe Remove Soul would be better for this matchup for CR. Having said that MBC can recour the rats and only 3 slots are used in GE for counter magic while MBC would usually have 4 CR. I can't ever see this match being favourable for GE. CoP: Black may provide a way of slowing MBC post-board, but without removal a simple Golem (after being recoured, maybe) would provide victory every time.
10:42 AM, 28 July 2008
Just for completeness, how would you board for the mirror? I'm guessing Gharial at least.
10:11 AM, 18 July 2008
OK, I think at least preboard MBC has the edge. Crypt rats destroys GE's board and Corrupt can also swing the game in your favor. Secondly I disagree that GE has the Card advantadge engine at least with Evu's build (no Mulldrfiters). While The ninja's are great for Card Advantadge MBC has a lot more spells that gain card advantadge, Ragers, Rats, pilferers ect and can wear down GE. COP: Black is obviously a huge problem for MBC but keep in mind GOlems can deal with it.
6:06 AM, 18 July 2008
Gimme:
very comprensive article on a deck I feel is consistently underrated.
concerning MBC vs Grand Entrance, I would consider GE to have a favorable matchup here. Typically these type of agressive decks with superior draw engines give Black control alot of problems. The major threat Black has in these matchups is Corrupt, but beyond that, GE has so many ways to keep up/get ahead in cards and obviously Cop Black vs current MBC decks can be a big problem even if it is eventually played around.
2:15 AM, 18 July 2008
Walkerdog,
Timeout/decking is theoretically possible, of course, but decking is just not happening against a deck with massive card advantage resources including Momentary Blink. Timeout comes down to whether the Grand Entrance player knows to play fast enough (which is quite doable). In the MBC/Grand Entrance matchup, Grand Entrance WILL kill eventually as long as it can't be burned out. Also unlike Cloak, Grand Entrance absolutely can and will kill all of the little guys MBC can put into play, so COP: Black is more for the Corrupts and Crypt Rats and occasional Twisted Abominations than it is for the random smaller beaters.
2:04 AM, 18 July 2008
PS good article Gimmie.
2:03 AM, 18 July 2008
MBC has an answer to COP: Black. It's not pretty, but decking your opponent will win the game pretty decisively. Also, timing you out if they win G1. It's not the EXACT same situation, but I recently won G1 against GW Cloak. G2, I have to blow an early Innocent Blood to take out a Ledgewalker, and then get two of his GotG with my 2nd and 3rd blood. So, I'm down to one more IB, while he has two GotG. He drops a COP:B. I crap my pants (almost). I craft this elaborate plan about how I can ping him a bunch of times with Crypt Rats, burn his dudes with Tendrils and Corrupts, and win with Rat pings and alpha strikes, then realize that this is somewhat futile. However, I keep killing his men, and making him activate COP 5-8 times a turn, and eventually he scooped to a potential timeout. I agree a COP gives you a HUGE lead, but they can answer it in a way.
2:45 PM, 17 July 2008
If I thought that a blue mage would pass on countering Riftwatchers because they have Vanishing, I might sideboard the fourth one *in*. An MUC player who lets any creature go unanswered is running the risk that they just gave you an uncounterable Ninja. Since an active Ninja is one of GE's best ways to win that match-up, most of the time they probably cannot afford to take that risk.
Granted, it's a pretty terrible topdeck, if you get to that point, but most things are. If my sideboard were brimming with creatures that were as good or better than Riftwatchers in the match-up, then I might replace them. But it isn't, and I'm already taking out some creatures as it is, so I don't feel like taking out more is safe. And I haven't noticed this being a particular problem in my games against MUC.
1:41 PM, 17 July 2008
Awesome article! Very nice read.
I'd like to reply to Evu on riftwatchers vs MUC. To me, it is clear that you need to side out riftwatchers against MUC. I strongly believe it is a big mistake to keep them in.
While it is potentially 8 damage with a bonesplitter, the card disadvantage is not worth it imo. Winning the card advantage war is much more important than a 8 damage burn. And most of the time, it's only 4 damage.
Also, you have to understand that if it does 8, 4 or 2 damage, it's because the MUC player let you. You're giving the MUC player the choice. He chooses to let the riftwatcher through. It's a life management choice.
GE has so many tools to beat MUC. Riftwatchers are not helping.
3:00 PM, 16 July 2008
I don't see it as a weakness in the deck. The only decks I hate to play against preboard are the storm decks. The fact that the deck has no other outright bad matchups (imo) to me is the main reason to play it.
Sideboards should be built to improve your chances against the meta and I think being able to know what cards improve which matchups allows you to do so confidently.
1:50 PM, 16 July 2008
I thoroughly endorse Kingritz' most recent comment about the sideboard.
I played my GW Cloak deck in probably one or two dozen events over the last couple of seasons, often not changing the sideboard at all, or making only minor changes. With GE, you don't have that luxury. When I plan to play it, I look through the room during registration, predict what everybody's going to bring, and build the sideboard accordingly.
One could argue that this is a weakness in the deck. I don't necessarily disagree with that.
12:54 PM, 16 July 2008
Gimmie,
The sideboard you proposed in the comments looks extremely solid to me. I agree about Truth for Goblinstorm -- it slipped my mind at the moment. As I see it, sideboarding this deck is a giant exercise in metagaming, as I prefer options that dominate one or two opponents rather than options that incremental improve a number of matchup. Not too long ago (maybe a year?), there was a great article to this effect on magicthegathering.com. I'll try to dig it up.
Anyway, if I want to totally turn around matchups, here are my choices:
Sunbeam Spellbomb totally turns around burn matchups. Steel Wall is similarly useful. The fourth Riftwatcher of course helps a ton too.
Grayscale Gharials turn around the MUC matchup as much as any single card ever could. They also put the Deep Dog matchup entirely out of reach.
Temporal Isolations make a huge difference in green fat matchups including RG Aggro and Thresher.
COP: Black dominates standard MBC lists, which have exactly ZERO answers to an in-play COP.
Divine Offering is the single best possible play against Affinity and, as Evu pointed out, is quite useful against MUC. It is also playable as you cut useless cards against the Burn Range matchup (assuming they run Oxidda Golem).
Echoing Truths are obviously critical against Goblinstorm and do wonders against Saproling decks.
Cloudchaser Kestrel dominates Cloak and Orzhov.
Obviously, you can't sideboard more than four or five of the above options in meaningful numbers, so the choice of the above really becomes an exercise in metagame prognostication. Of course that means that right now I see my choices and your last proposal as being quite optimal, but next week those same choices could be way off the mark.
12:44 PM, 16 July 2008
Evu,
Thanks for the feedback. We can certainly agree to disagree in some areas, but the dialogue is useful in general.
4. Neither Drake is an all-star against Burn Range or the like, but a deck like RG Aggro or Thresher certainly can't and doesn't attempt to burn off every creature you cast. Rather, a guy like Wild Mongrel or one of their various 3/3's can easily swing through a field of 2/2's and 0/3's (with burn held for wrecking double blocks and foiling Blinks). Here, it does make a difference. Even against Burn Range, often they will throw burn at your head rather than bothering with a Walker or one of the 1/1 fliers. And sometimes they just tap out to throw down an Oxidda Golem. When that happens, being able to turn a Walker into a 3/4 forces the aggro deck to waste at least two cards if they ever want to get through the red zone again. Against RDW I tend to cut Cloud Sprites rather than Wormfang Drakes, since you really can't race. Silver Drake, on the other hand, is so uncastable that I cut it over Cloud Sprite.
6 & 9. I recognize the value of having an end-of-turn play to remove Spire Golem. I certainly glossed over that fact and it's good that you pointed it out, but unfortunately I just can't find room for Divine Offering right now.
7. I know that we agree to disagree here. No hard feelings.
8. I have had problems with MBC because you have quite few counters and Corrupt is nasty. Plus, Crypt Rats are a guaranteed sweep of your board that no Blink can stop. And a lot of the creature-heavy, discard-heavy MBC builds run a lot of recursive bodies (see Boin's build, that LostSymphonies won TPDC with last night). This makes it very hard to obtain card advantage, since Ninjas won't get through much and comes-into-play guys are just as present on the other team. Part of my problem may of course be that I've moved away from Counterspell in favor of other countering options that don't stop Corrupt, but I certainly have been discarded down, swept up, and burned out by MBC on more than one occasion. It's interesting that our experiences seem to differ here.
11:50 AM, 16 July 2008
Gimmie, thanks again for the time and effort you put into this article.
Most of what I'd have said about the article is already in the article, but I do want to add a bit about the sideboard: if you expect Freed combo, play Snapback (because they will Gigadrowse you before going off). Also, agreed that 3 or 4 Echoing Truth is important in token-heavy metagames such as we're seeing currently.
Other than that, I want to address a few of Kingritz' points.
4. Isn't either Drake a win-more card against decks with burn? It's not safe to play them if there's a chance all of your other creatures could be killed in response. And if you have more creatures on the board than they have burn in hand, and you're still alive, then aren't you already winning? A 3/4 is great if you have it, but I might just sideboard out these cards against burn anyway.
6 & 9. Instant-speed artifact removal is not just for Affinity, but MUC as well. EOT Offering on a Spire Golem, even if countered, is a big play. (Disenchant is just for when sideboard space is so tight that you can't afford to run both Offering and Kestrel.)
7. Certainly a difference in our play styles. Mulldrifter is tempting, but in the end I don't run it because I don't think that drawing even more cards addresses a need. I'd rather have more efficient creatures, or more removal/disruption.
8. Why do you find MBC unfavorable pre-board? It's not a bye or anything, but I've never felt the need to devote sideboard space to the match-up.
10:28 AM, 16 July 2008
King,
Thanks for the input and kind words. I was hoping the few pilots of the deck would have something to add.
I agree with a lot of your sideboarding ideas. So maybe something like this?
4 Echoing Truth
3 Grayscaled Gharial
3 COP Black
3 Cloudchaser Kestrel
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 Aven Riftwatcher
For me all the goblinstorm decks are the worst matchups preboard. I want to have the full 4 Truths available post board. At least with the way the current Classic environment is going.
JMason,
Thanks for the nice feedback. One of my biggest hopes from doing this was to possibly get others interested in doing the same thing for decks they are familiar with.
7:59 AM, 16 July 2008
I really appreciate that paupers like Kehmesis and yourself are so willing to outline deck strategies in this way. I almost feel I could now pick up GE and go straight into a tournament with it.
8:40 PM, 15 July 2008
Gimmie,
Excellent article and great that you referenced Evu as you did. Thoughts:
1. I was a little surprised that you side out Walkers against MUC, given how critical it is to get turn 2 Ninja -- and Walker can come down WITH a 1/1 flier and can't be charmed. Nibblers don't fight through Spire Golem any more than Walkers do, so I'd rather cut those. Of course, I've also never gotten up to 50/50 vs. MUC (I think it's a 45/55 matchup), so maybe this is my problem.
2. I also think you're using a little bit of an old list, as I would move over to a 3/1 split between Cloud Sprite and Thought Nibbler.
3. I would also be looking, as was mentioned, at one of the many 1U counter options: Rune Snag, Remove Soul, Mana Leak, Negate, or even Spellstutter Sprite. UU is just too hard.
4. In my testing, Wormfang Drake > Silver Drake because it is less mana-intensive (compare Blinking either one with a CIP creature involved). Almost all other points are secondary to the cost issue and the +0/+1 issue (key against aggro, since Wormfang survives all relevant 1-for-1 burn).
5. I find Cloudchaser Kestrel to be the single most important sideboard card for the deck. It singlehandedly beats both Cloak and Orzhov (if Orzhov can't Fetter/O-Ring your Longbow, it wrecks them). In fact, I don't agree with Evu that the GW Cloak matchup is still "rough." It's unfavorable pre-board, but I almost never lose that matchup post-SB, so Cloak becomes a 75% matchup overall just because of Kestrel.
6. I am not currently running artifact removal SB, because there's no space and because Affinity is rare and can be beaten without it.
7. Even though it's not very fast, I think you almost have to run 2-3 Mulldrifters. Of course, I play this deck much more as "midrange aggro-control," whereas Evu plays it much more as "tempo."
8. In MBC-heavy environments like some of the recent TPDCs, sideboard space for COP: Black is mandatory. That card is another that causes a massive post-board swing in a matchup. MBC goes from under 40% to over 60% on the strength of COP: Black alone.
9. I'd cut AEther Spellbomb, Divine Offering, and Disenchant from the sideboard to make the above additions.
10. I almost never side out Viridian Longbow. The little machine gun is just too outright critical and dominates the mid-to-late game in any matchup that ever gets there. It wins the Orzhov matchup attrition wars, among many other plusses. It only takes up one maindeck slot anyway.
Regardless of my critiques, you've written an excellent article that should be applauded. Bravo and thanks!