Video Series – Storm – CJPS

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Storm

As this is the first time I have recorded I hope you’ll be able to forgive my technical difficulties. I am sure that future series will be post production free and you’ll get to enjoy the action live.

Nevertheless, going over the matches a second time makes you more aware of the intricacies of the pivotal situations and also, of course, of the slew of misplays that you’ve trod through and somehow managed to survive.

So here we go for a second look.

– PLAY YOUR LED YOU FOOL! Say you play against a discard heavy deck, as was the case in my match 1. In this case, it is often just better to play your LEDs, they are no good in the graveyard. When new to Legacy Storm, people seem to have this fear of not being able to reach the desired storm count and thus keep all their artifact acceleration in hand. Especially with Lion’s Eye Diamond, as the card plays such an integral role to your strategy, it is often beneficial to just play out your card early, into a zone where it might be safer.

– Remember, remember, the fifth of … Hang on, where was I? Ah yes, remember your Cabal Therapyies have flashback! It is easy to forget, but cards have text and you can flashback a Cabal Therapy by sacrificing a Goblin token. This doesn’t actually come up all that often in my experience, but it is still very important to remember. Whereas in the second game of my first match, I manage to get through it without needing to cabal therapy my opponent, I could have very easily ended up in a situation like that. My opponent manages to find a counter for my Tendrils of Agony, next turn plays Batterskull and the game is over. Here just flashing back the Cabal Therapy and striping the lifegaining monster out of my opponent’s hand will make it virtually impossible for them to win the game.

– Keep hands that are good and mulligan hands that are bad. Mulligans are important, and especially with a deck like Storm. It is often quite tricky to evaluate a hand with ANT, because very good hands and very bad hands can look similar. In addition, you need to be very aware of what hands are good in what matchups. Let’s look at the first hand of my M2-G2, playing against Miracles:Flooded Strand, Abrupt Decay, Cabal Therapy, Ponder, Past in Flames, Tendrils, LED. Yes against Miracles you want to make your land drops, so having only a single land seems a bit tough. However, you have a Ponder to set up a game plan, you have a Therapy and Abrupt Decay, to disrupt theirs, and you have action spells plus acceleration, this is a good hand in the match-up. Finally, I hope I need not explain why the hand I kept in game 3 of that match was a bad one to keep.

– Be prepared for all eventualities! Everyone and their dog expects Storm and has some sort of hate for it post sideboard. It is easy to get caught out when you haven’t played much Storm and don’t necessarily know what sort of hate cards people bring in. Say you play Legacy Storm for the first time and sit across some lovely Lands player. You get an easy round 1 and think, wow this deck is amazing, how does anyone ever lose with it? Only to find yourself under a Sphere of Resistance and a Chalice of the Void in game 2 and wishing those Abrupt Decays were in your deck. As I do in my third match, it is often prudent to bring in some varied amount of hate rather than find yourself helpless in the face of a Counterbalance.

– Ever watched Sesame Street? Then I’m sure you know how to count. Although I didn’t miscount in the first game of my fourth match, and I defend my play of putting my opponent to 1 in this situation, I have seen myself and others too many times bang their head against the table when noticing we are 1 short. Storm is a combo deck much like SnT, you wouldn’t cast SnT when you don’t have something good to put in with it. Much in the same vein, don’t crack your LED when you haven’t double or triple checked that you can produce enough mana and have enough storm count to defeat your opponent.

– Believe in the topdeck! Unfortunately, my last round was cut short by my opponent taking a few bad mulligans, yet I think a valid lesson is to be learnt: Wait! As hopeless as a situation may look, Storm is a powerhouse and Infernal Tutor is a very good card. Storm always seems to be able to get out of the most tricky situations, and I would advise you not to give up until your lifetotal is below 0 or you have 10 or more poison counters.

That’s it from me for now, as said in the video, all feedback is appreciated and I promise smoother game play in the future.

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