[MTG] Tiny Leaders - Geist Stoneblade

[Poc]

So my LGS just started getting into Tiny leaders, they are having a tournament on Saturday so I threw this together really quick. I don't really know what the Tiny Leaders meta is like so I tried to use a wide variety of answers in this deck.

 

Land (18)

1x Arid Mesa
1x Azorius Chancery
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Command Tower
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Flooded Strand
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
1x Nimbus Maze
2x Plains
1x Polluted Delta
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Wasteland
1x Windswept Heath

Creature (7)

1x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Meddling Mage
1x Mother of Runes
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x True-Name Nemesis
1x Vendilion Clique

Instant (13)

1x Brainstorm
1x Counterspell
1x Daze
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Mana Leak
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Path to Exile
1x Remove Soul
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Rapid Hybridization
1x Swords to Plowshares

1x Essence Scatter

1x Silence

 

Sorcery (4)

1x Gitaxian Probe
1x Ponder
1x Preordain

Enchantment (5)

1x Detention Sphere
1x Land Tax
1x Journey to Nowhere
1x Steel of the Godhead

Artifact (2)

1x Isochron Scepter
1x Sword of War and Peace

 

 

Sideboard

 

1x Steal Enchantment

1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Council's Judgment
1x Spellskite
1x Crawlspace
1x Pithing Needle
1x Rest in peace
1x Containment Priest
1x Fade Away
 

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Treasure Cruise, Batterskull, and Witchbane Orb all have too high of CMC to use in the format.

[Poc]

Yea, I caught the witchbane orb, Im not use to actually paying 8 mana for cruse or hardcasting batterskull so I forget their CMC, lol. Thanks for catching that.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Anyway, looking this over it seems simple enough. Keep in mind that Tiny Leaders does not use commander damage, as it is a mistake those new to the format often make. Even so, this rule change makes Traft better, as his guardian angel's damage is just as effective as his own. The format is very aggro-based, due to the fact that there are far fewer efficient boardwipes, so efficient removal tends to be a good idea. For that matter, swapping O-ring for a Journey to Nowhere is probably a good idea, allowing you to remove a threat while keeping up more countermagic.

 

Also, I just noticed this, but Snapcaster is listed twice (though it the count is still correct)

[Poc]

It does seem very aggro based, which make me think this decks biggest weakness is the lack of a decent wrath. Journey does seem better than O-Ring if most decks are heavily creature based.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

This deck could probably drag the game past turn 7, at which point both Cyclonic Rift and Martial Coupe may act as boardwipes (resolving either of these at boardwipe mana will likely win you the game)

[Simping For Hina]

Have you tried something like Curse of Swine? Your creatures are better than vanilla 2/2s 

[Poc]

I made some changes to my deck, instead of playing it as a hard control deck, it plays more like a tempo deck. I feel that its the proper way to play Giest in this format.

 

So anyways, today was my LGS' first TL tournament. I went 4-0 with this deck, there was no top 4 because it was past closing time when we finished the 4th round.

 

Round 1 vs Athreos hatebears

 

This was a tough matchup, w/b decks just shit on control decks with all the discard and the ghost quarters and wastelands really slowed my deck down. I managed to out race him in game 1 with steel of the godhead. Game 2 I mana flooded and his boardstate was too much to deal with. Game 3 True-name did some serious work and was able to take the win with a sword of war and peace (my other swords were being lent out to a friend so I had to use W+P) I won the match with 2 wins and 1 loss

 

Round 2 vs Ezuri elfball

 

Wow, this deck, what the fuck. I did not expect to win this round. The elf deck is just way too fast and glimpse of nature needs to be banned in this format. Fortunately a turn 2 meddling mage naming Ezuri and ratchet bombs let me durdle around long enough to draw into cyclonic rift and wipe the board. Game 2 I was mana starved and he killed me on turn 5 with Ezuri and friends. Game 3 I made him overcommit to the board and made him sac everything to Fade Away, Giest easily took the win on an empty board. I won the match with 2 wins and a loss

 

Round 3 vs Khembatron

 

This was a pretty cool deck to play against. It played like an affinity deck with puresteel paladin and Leonin Shikari to move equipment around. It wasn't a very hard deck to beat though. Game one he locked me down with an Etched Champion, I managed to durdle until I drew into TNN and killed him with that. Game 2 I had a god hand with tons of answers and took an easy win. Won the Match 2-0

 

Round 4 vs Alesha Infect

We decided to draw the match since I was already guaranteed first place and the guy would draw into 4th, we played the match out for fun anyways.

 

 

This was a tricky deck to play against, Alesha is such a value engine and infect is always scary since it can win out of nowhere. Game one I meddling maged Alesha which let me remove his threats without much worry of them coming back, after dropping a ratchet bomb he dumped his hand so I'd blow it on 2 counters to get rid of my mage, but once he finally got alesha out, Giest was suited up with a steel of the godhead and easily raced his threats. Game two I sided in a ton of cards just to shut off his graveyard and alesha, turn 2 RIP and turn 3 Spellskite was backbreaking for him. He had no real way to stop spellskite from taking his pump spells so it was a pretty easy win.

 

 

Overall I think Giest is one of the stronger commanders in the format. Hes not completely busted like that stupid elf deck but hes strong enough and his colors have enough answers to deal with any kind of deck. The lack of good wrath effects in u/w for this format make playing Giest as a tempo stoneblade deck rather than a control stoneblade much more ideal.