Tap That (Taps working file)

by Mercedes on 02 August 2011

Main Deck (60 cards)

Sideboard (15 cards)

Creatures (2)

Phantasmal Image2xPhantasmal Image

Sorceries (4)

Day of Judgment3xDay of Judgment
Sleep1xSleep

Instants (5)

Dispel2xDispel
Divine Offering3xDivine Offering

Artifacts (2)

Sword of Feast and Famine2xSword of Feast and Fam..

Enchantments (2)

Leyline of Anticipation2xLeyline of Anticipation

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Deck Description

--This build is retired, so don't bother commenting on it. :) I'm keeping it up mostly for reference at this point, so I don't want it accidentally getting to the front page or something. LOL

This is a more recent attempt, so comments there would be much more appreciated: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=324135 --

Rework of surewhynot's Taps deck that I'm running in FNM. Updates as I play with it. It won't be an exact copy, but it's originally based on his build.

9/6: Made a few more revisions and, two weeks ago. made a final adjustment by adding Sword of Feast and Famine to the SB. Sun Titans are gone completely, they don't do enough; same went for Venser (as much as I love the brat).

***Also, I got a hold of a 4th Avenger. Any suggestions as to what should be traded out for it?***

8/14 EDITS: Well, okay, 8/12 technically, but it's the 14th when I'm posting them. Changed the land base completely so that the Tec Edges are main deck, I have 4-of's all the 2-C land and I'm up to 24 from 22. Running quite a number less creatures than I started with, but drawing a beatstick is rarely the issue with this deck. Even with 24 land, the darn thing doesn't want me to have a 6th one in play half the time. :/

8/11 EDITS: My playtester made a change I had been unhappily opposing because it was a case of replacing a 2-cost with card draw for a 4 cost without. BUT, making changes is one of the reason I had him test it, so...

-2 Due Respect, +2 Sleep
SB -2 Sleep, +2 Leyline of Anticipation

8/9 EDITS: Well, not REALLY edits yet, since I can't make the changes until tonight. I'm really not enjoying drawing into Seachrome Coast mid-late game. I'm thinking of taking them out completely for at least one more Glacial Fortress and possibly Tec Edges or straight-up Islands. Also considering taking out Due Respect for a 4th Preordain and a 4th Narcolepsy. Preordain is better draw, Narco is better tap, and Due Respect always feels like a dead card when I draw it because I dislike holding land open for it. Yeah, I can make people think I'm holding a Leak, but Due Respect just isn't as impressive.

8/8 EDITS: -1 Sun Titan, +1 Sunblast Angel
SB: -1 Sunblast Angel -2 Frost Breath, +3 Tectonic Edges

8/3 EDITS: -1 Wurmcoil Engine, +1 Sunblast Angel]
2 Phantasmal Image to the SB, 2 Wall of Frost MD

Murdered a rogue Treasure Hunt deck and a Call to the Grave Zombie deck in playtesting, but those are far from Standard regulars.

Deck Tags

  • Tournament

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

8
Likes
22
Comments

This deck has been viewed 3,857 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

2621000

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Estimated Value

$0.00
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Deck Options


Deck discussion for Tap That (Taps working file)

This deck is doing great outside of tournaments. During tournaments however...

W-L record for last Friday's FNM: 0-4 rounds, 2-10 games

I was just about in tears I was so frustrated by the time I dropped after 4. At least half of those games I couldn't seem to draw more than 5 land (once was color screw on top of that, didn't see a blue source the entire game) and one game all I drew was land. The ones where I was actually ABLE to play stuff, I either couldn't draw answers or what little I could play was destroyed faster than I could respond. I even lost to a guy who'd only been playing a week and a rogue Aura deck that hadn't won a game all night!

So, yes, INCREDIBLY frustrating.

Due Respect feels like it ought to do more than it does, I'm thinking it's going to HAVE to come out for more straight draw/control. Venser may be coming out for a third Gideon, but it's up for debate. I don't know WHY I'm having so many land problems because, really Metamorph and Buried Ruin should NOT be the stars of this deck.

RNG is determined to remind me why I stopped playing in tournaments...

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Posted 08 August 2011 at 17:03

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Just to let you know I'm closely watching how you are doing with this deck, as I have one that somewhat mirror yours. Your previous post was highly entertaining.... :-)

I love playing taps but felt like adding more draw/control to it to just accelerate the whole damn thing.

Keep up the news (and the spirit!) on this deck!

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Posted 08 August 2011 at 20:35

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Oh, cool! :D I didn't think anyone would even look at this deck since I say flat out that it's a working file. Though, ironically, it's one of only two active decks on my whole list.

In that case, I'll keep up the tournament reports. I won't be able to play until FNM, but I have someone play-testing the deck for me in a Thursday tournament in hopes that he can help me work out the bugs.

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Posted 09 August 2011 at 14:08

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Nice! Well, I'll keep coming back here to check on your progress. What interests me more is hearing about what cards work/don't work in this deck. The famous Mana Curve is of interest to me as well as I seem to have some congestion at the 3CC level.... too many things playable there.

I may eventually test my deck in some FNM but I am in no hurry to do that. Anyway, enough rambling; keep up your excellent reports!

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Posted 09 August 2011 at 15:20

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I really want to know why cards with Phyrexian mana in the CC always show up as costing one more than they do. >.< Ought to bring this up on the forum...

ANYWAY, the first thing they said when I went to my local store last night was "don't be angry." Well, that's not a good sign, I thought. They showed me the standings for the Thursday tournament.

My tester was in third out of 18 going into round 4, with only the slight changes I mention above. >.< He finished the tournament in second place, trounced by his final opponent.

I don't know all the match details, but apparently the deck had been playing phenomenally, just like it did for me outside of tournaments. When I brought up the fact that I must have doing something wrong in the tournaments, my tester replied, "Nah, I think it was just shit luck."

SO! It is once again Friday and FNM is less than 12 hours away. He we go again.

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Posted 12 August 2011 at 12:57

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Well first off, good luck Mercedes... haha. I also have been tinkering with a standard tap deck. I have been using Hero of Bladeholds and they work out pretty great if you can get a swing in. How do you like Venser? (I've never used him). Also, I dont run Grand Abolisher's, but I can see how they help/annoy everyone! Our decks our actually very similar but I have no m11 cards so all I can really suggest is Heros and then maybe try out Frost Breath if you feel you need a less mana tap spell.

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Posted 12 August 2011 at 20:40

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Actually, while I LOVE Venser and abusing his ability, I find that, more often than not, I'm either holding him in hand or sideboarding him out. He's just not optimal for this deck. :/ I think he'll be coming out for either a 3rd Gideon, or even a 3rd O-Ring. Been talking with my BF and we both agree that Venser just needs his own deck filled with targets to abuse. Like Stonehorn Dignitary, Wall of Omens, Spines... yeah. :D

EVERYONE saw the Abolisher and groaned. XD It was kind of hilarious. I lost to a Kuldotha Red deck (way too fast for me) but not before I stalled him to a crawl (well, a crawl for one of the fastest decks in the format). It stopped a Vampire deck from triggering the life loss in response to blocking my 17/17 Avenger and made a Birthing Pod deck panic a few times. SO MUCH FUN.

...Maybe Venser will get replaced with a 3rd Abolisher. :D

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Posted 14 August 2011 at 16:07

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Oh, to reply completely... Heroes don't do the right sort of thing to fit in here, though they are awesome. Frost Breath is still in the maybe pile because it DOES fit, but I don't know what to take out for it. XD

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Posted 14 August 2011 at 16:32

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Hey so I totally misjudged Venser... Hes a beast! I reworked my deck and found out I didnt need Hero of Bladeholds either (even though I was pretty hesitant to take them out). I rather added some Blade Splicers because of Venser's +2 madness and some Metamorphs. So, in the end, it looks like Ill be laughing with you when we exile our Metamorphs and bring them back as Sun Titans who bring back... you know what I mean.

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Posted 15 August 2011 at 07:55

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So, I went 3-2-0 on 8/12. Well, I consider it more 2-2-0 because my 4th round opponent apparently left and forgot to tell the organizer. It was a free win for me without the stigma of it being a real bye. :D So, instead, I "helped" a friend playtest his R/W Jor Kadeen Battlecry deck. I stalled him down to nothing and then eased up by switching to a slow artifact mill deck.

... Is it mean to have a Grind Clock with 14 charge counters on it? :D Also, Tumble Magnet with consistent proliferate on the battlefield is awesome.

Anyway, back to this deck. Most of my basic lands were taken out, so the 2-color land were a LITTLE slower, but the advantage of color fixing was far too great for me to care. I learned that Sleep main deck is evil and that Gideon's first ability followed by a Sunblast Angel let's you laugh maniacally at Vampires. Especially if you have an Abolisher on the field. :D

2-0 against R/B Vamps (I think the red was just for burn spells...) Sunblast Angel, appropriately, destroyed his field and let me swing through with Gideon and a could of huge Avengers. Wish I could find a fourth one. :/
2-0 against U/W control of a slightly different sort than me (poor guy drew 11 of 17 land game 2, though. >.<)
1-2 against UGW Birthing Pod. It was close, though. I kept disabling his Pods with O-Rings and Magnets, tapping down all his really threatening creatures. The end of game two saw, literally ALL of both our O-Rings in a pile in a corner of the field where we'd used that to cancel each other out. I didn't mind getting beat, he definitely had card advantage over me, but it was fun trying.
0-2 against Kuldotha Red. Seriously, with the exception of two Heroes of Oxid Ridge, this guys curve was _2_. I cannot keep up with that. But I damn well tried!

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Posted 14 August 2011 at 16:25

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I drafted last Friday, so no record for there. The FNM before that, while I don't remember my exact match ups, I did finally decide on one thing: green decks eat me alive. I had zero defense against them and I couldn't keep up with the ramp. Even vampires aren't as bad as having Gaea's Vengeance hit the field turn 4-5. So! Into the SB go two SoFF. Might even trade Dispel for Flashfreeze since that'll be around longer.

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Posted 06 September 2011 at 16:05

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I think you could easily just drop a land for your Avenger. This deck does seem kind of cramped though, if you know what I mean.

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Posted 15 September 2011 at 02:54

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I might try that. And yeah, I do know. :/ Curve is a bit temperamental and if I don't get the right starting hand, I tend to fumble around for a few turns. I still really enjoy the IDEA of the deck, but it still feels a bit unwieldy. Maybe there will be something magical in Innistrad to smooth it out? O.o

...Doubtful, but I can hope.

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Posted 15 September 2011 at 20:20

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Well, try just subbing things like Frost Breath for Sleep, or Ponder over Preordain. Do you think Mana Leak is needed in this? You could also cut either Frosty or Sunblast. I don't like OB Ring in here. Oh, take out one Tec Edge for the Avenger, they're not good enough unless there is Valakut.

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Posted 16 September 2011 at 19:56

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You can speed it up quite a bit if you do some of those things I think. How about Solemn Simulacrum for your mana issue?

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Posted 16 September 2011 at 20:02

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I need some sort of counter in here and Mana Leak is currently the most reliable. Frost Breath replacing Sleep is pretty much a guarantee at this point, considering what's cycling out.

Hmm... As awesome as Solemn's are, they're a 4 drop and I need mana earlier. What about Traveler's Amulet?

Sunblast is a BOMB when it hits. So long as I play it right, it eats their board and I really can't get rid of that. Frosty is a bit more targeted, but he also seems to die more often than I'd like. Possible replacement slot there.

Everyone keeps telling me that Preordain should always be taken over Ponder. Does it really matter that much? I would think it's the ability to put the cards on the bottom of the deck.

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Posted 26 September 2011 at 15:34

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Preordain ~technically~ offers slightly more options over Ponder, because of Scry's versatility, but it's really an apple-orange type of thing...pick which one works better for you.

From my experience, Frosty does draw A LOT of hate, but for good reason...Unanswered he wins the game pretty much every time.

Frost Breath isn't such a bad replacement for Sleep honestly. Its instant speed is a nice thing to have, and often times Sleep is overkill since most things will already be tapped.

Losing Narc sucks, no question about that...but on the bright side Claustrophobia is a better Paralyzing Grasp, so that's nice =]

Feeling of Dread does seem promising, I'll have to see how it works out in playtesting.

And yeah, Marrow Shards is devastating to RDW designs. Those decks rely on "damage spikes", or single turns/actions where they deal SIGNIFICANT amounts of damage all at once...it's why they're so hard to stop if they get the upper hand. But if you play 2 life to cut down their 22 damage spike down to say...8 damage then their deck is usually rendered worthless. (Why do you think my Kuldotha Rust design has Mental Misstep in the SB?)

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Posted 26 September 2011 at 20:34

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I'm glad to see such methodical fine-tuning of a deck, regardless of if it's based on my design or not. Taps is strong, but it's weakness is what RDW does very well: Getting ahead of the tapping. It's against RDW that Due Respect and, even more so, Marrow Shards shine, even if they're just in the SB.

Taps runs on the opponent playing "keep-up". When Taps has to play keep-up instead, such as with RDW, it suffers greatly. Those cards I mentioned above should help deal with the RDW...I would know, I designed Kuldotha Rust after all =P

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Posted 17 September 2011 at 00:36

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I... never even though of Marrow Shards. O.o Against RDW, that WOULD be crazy, wouldn't it? And thinking about it, what with RDW relying on hastey creatures, Due Respect would put a great big Yield sign there.

Thanks for the compliment, I'm actually having more fun altering the deck and cataloging results than I am playing it. XD It's been an interesting learning process, figuring out what works and what doesn't. Once Innistrad is in the databases here, I'm going to post the update as a new deck so that it avoids all the clutter on this one. I'm kind of amused by the fact that I have as many -- if not more -- posts on this deck as other people do.

Thanks for commenting!

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Posted 26 September 2011 at 15:49

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surewhynot has deleted this comment.

Posted 17 September 2011 at 00:39

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With M11 and Zen going to the wayside, I'll be losing a few cards: Narcolepsy, Sleep, Tec Edge and Celestial Colonnade. The Edges will likely get replaced with Ghost Quarters and the Colonnade, sadly, with basic land. Innistrade isn't providing much for this deck directly, so I might have to fall back to further control. The only one of the four that REALLY hurts is losing Narco. That card fuels the Avengers with such a reassuring steadiness that it's going to be rough losing it. In the mean time, though, possible cards that will be heading in:

Frost Breath: likely replacing Sleep. Not quite as amazing, BUT cheaper and instant speed.
Feeling of Dread: Cheap, fast, reoccurring. Pretty much a guaranteed MUST.
-add a 4th Tumble Magnet
-Contagion Clasp for kill/Proliferate?
-Tezzeret's Gambit?

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Posted 26 September 2011 at 15:16

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It's to bad that everything rotates in October. This deck and mine (http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=362594) will lose most, if not all of the cards in standard.

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Posted 09 August 2012 at 15:35

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Actually, this version of the deck was retired last winter. Losing Sleep and Narcolepsy turned out to be too big of a loss and Scars block really offered nothing good to revive it. Still working on getting a viable version of the deck together now that it's possible, but I keep getting distracted by other decks. XD

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Posted 09 August 2012 at 16:04

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