Against the Odds: Triskaidekaphile 🔵⚪🟢 Standard MTG Gameplay & Deck Tech | MTG Arena

[@MTGGoldfish]

Since there's some confusion in the comments, there isn't a window to draw a card at the start of our turn before the beginning of the upkeep to win with Triskaidekaphile. The first phase that we can do anything is our upkeep phase, and while we can draw with Trisk during our upkeep, at that point the beginning of our upkeep would have passed. TLDR: we need to have 13 cards in hand at the end of our *opponent's* turn to win with Triskaidekaphile on our upkeep.

[@jameshayes-barber9340]

58:36 Big lol at you saying "Bad dragons"

[@vulcanh254]

It's confusing because sometimes it's a trigger you can respond to. I'm pretty sure most cards that win you the game in similar ways go on the stack and check for current life totals etc. then resolve.

[@Alikaoz]

@@vulcanh254 Most if not all "If" triggers just don't trigger if you don't meet the condition, then the trigger checks if it's still true (You know, in case you get hit by K-Command).

[@BeaglzRok1]

I for one was confused because I come from YuGiOh where the Standby Phase comes after the Draw Phase, and I keep forgetting that in Magic things untap during Upkeep BEFORE you get to draw in Draw Step.

[@Deviknyte_]

Did you notice you won with 13 damage exactly?

[@biscuittechnician]

hover over your deck in the bottom left and it will tell you how many cards are in your hand 😁

[@sazger]

Is there anyway to keep those numbers always in view?

[@fenrir266]

I’ve really enjoyed my azorius combo version of this deck with alrunds. It Feels a lot more consistent, but you lose the green backup strata with wrenn

[@Oceanz08]

If you're at 12 cards at your upkeep can't you draw a card to win?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Sadly no. Triskaidekaphile triggers at the beginning of our upkeep, we can draw with Trisk during our upkeep, but at the point the beginning would have past so we can't win until the next turn.

[@KomoliRihyoh]

WotC: *Adds a function where hovering over either deck or the opponent's hand lets you see the number of cards in your hand so you don't have to tediously count* Seth: "onetwothreefourfivesi..."

[@zacharymccutcheon8607]

What did we learn about Triskaidekaphile in standard? Wrenn and Seven is a really good card.

[@hugeheadliang]

Wrenn’s paired up with six and seven, 6+7=13, so his inclusion is kind of flavorful I guess?

[@MTGGoldfish]

lol

[@johnnamkeh1290]

"If they kill both Triskaidekaphiles, I guess as punishment I'll kill them with these two 10/10s"

[@willgary8792]

@@hugeheadliang wrenn = she

[@jeremyphillips3087]

@@willgary8792 I'd think it's a little early to start imposing roles on it, don't you?

[@hedlankunsond4556]

It wouldn't be Against the Odds if Seth didn't say "Maybe this deck is actually good" at least once

[@quinnquitars]

😂 Seth is the best

[@joshbaker8767]

You killed the opponent at 13 life with a 13/13 treefolk too. You're living the triskaidekaphile life! ;)

[@allopeth]

came for this

[@amandaspear6148]

Sure is good of wrenn to get all those spells out of the way so you could draw five lands😂🤣😂

[@MTGGoldfish]

Wrenn's helpful like that.

[@amandaspear6148]

@@MTGGoldfish 😂🤣 Nice set though. It was awesome to see you get it very first set.

[@Crusina]

Seth, we give you a hard time but we watch you because we love you so damn much lol These videos would not be as much fun if you weren't making these mistakes lol

[@MTGGoldfish]

Ha, I know. I mostly just like to joke about KZbin yelling at me, I know it's all in love and it didn't bother me :)

[@Crusina]

@@MTGGoldfish you make magic fun, never change! Your videos always make my day better 🥰

[@ODIRGO]

Basically, play Wren and Seven, and it doesn't matter what's the rest of your deck.

[@xddddddddddddd]

@Todd Packer except this time most standard cards sucked unlike eldraine

[@silverdeathgamer2907]

@Todd Packer Oko was far better it invalidated creatures and equipment, allowed you to heal and built a board presence by itself and there was busted goose+oko or goose+once upon a time and Oko lines that only mystical dispute, duress or noxious grasp could stop and then you had to deal with Nissa who shakes the world, wicked wolf with food backup and eventually late game hydroid krasis to refill. Wrenn is so much weaker and I doubt it will make waves in older formats, nissa who shakes the world is a better green planeswalker and doesn't see much play in older formats.

[@conallgilmore5326]

Ayyy, I was the opponent on mono green! Raging I played into the wrath when I played the Huntmaster, but glad I lost to some jank instead of goldspan dragon. Also glad you recognised the name ;)

[@sheepy403]

Hah, the username is even that much better knowing your actual name! Gotta be one of the better pun names I've seen

[@conallgilmore5326]

A very fortunate coincidence

[@wookieesden3133]

I’m very mad at the opponent in game 2 who conceded rather than let the triskedecaphile happen.

[@ArchbardWava]

Shouldn't this deck have 4x Wizard Class? They'd make it easier to hoard cards instead of having to discard them and reassembling.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Maybe. Wizards Class felt fine. Not sure exactly what to cut from it.

[@vermora356]

You know, if you hover over your library, it shows you how many cards you have in hand.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Oh, good call.

[@Brodysseous]

But then we wouldn't get to hear Seth count to 13 a billion times.

[@bjarkov12]

Seth counting those cards instead of using the hud is so adorable

[@gaminggeckos4388]

Made a deck that used this, but also threw in Mordenkainen and Hand of Vecna, so that I'd also have a way of inflicting massive damage using my massive number of cards in my hand. Even better if the illusion dog or hand wielder has Flying or Trample. Like, just get 10 cards in your hand, and give Mordenkainen's dog Flying, and that could potentially be another win condition right there.

[@locust765]

I know for sure that if I played this in paper, I would have accidentally cheated by thinking there was always a triskaidekaphile trigger to check the number of cards in hand that you could respond to with it's activated ability.

[@DonovanPresents]

That last game you had a 13/13 with your opponent being at 13 life... If that's not a Triskaidekaphile win I don't know what is!

[@VirtuaSphere]

This deck should be nicknamed "Wrenn and 13"

[@abheekpandya8717]

Opponent punts at 1:08:12 - they could attack with Hive which has menace which forces you to block with Trisk. Obviously, you had removal in hand but they didn't know that.

[@Kasaaz]

I feel like Menace is the most overlooked battlefield keyword these days. Maybe because it seems so much more common suddenly.

[@silverdeathgamer2907]

@@Kasaaz I would say reach.

[@jacobcampbell3280]

At 6:26 Seth just casually being possessed by a cow.

[@MaxMckayful]

It's the most Seth win con ever. Getting rewarded for drawing cards? Dream deck for our boy Saffron

[@pretends2know]

As much fun as it is to watch Seth count his cards in his hand, and I think this was a content play to build suspense, anyone can always just check their hand size on arena by hovering their cursor over their own deck.

[@jenius00]

54:23 felt like an early scoop. It seemed like you were so down on your mana issues you forgot to foretell one of the doomskars a previous turn while leaving saw it coming up. You could have wrathed here and left up saw it coming. Sure there was a good chance they had epiphany with saw it coming backup followed by a turn with two birds and double goldspan or something. Odds were better they had what they needed, But maybe the didn't have it. Maybe they had the wrong half of their deck in hand and you were ready to stabilize. There's something to be said about not giving your opponents info, but you wouldn't be giving up much to see where it went. All that being said, if I were playing, I'd probably scoop too due to the bad feels. But I want to believe there's a world where you stabilized.

[@Chipperbane]

Agreed. Never scoop early.

[@shoryukenpower]

At 24:40 why didn't he just play one of the Triskas since he had 14 in hand?

[@MTGGoldfish]

It seemed likely that the opponent had removal (they were a super removal heavy deck), so I didn't think it was especially likely it would work that turn.

[@DimbyHero]

I love, love, LOVE when you do "you win the game" cards. This was a ton of fun! It was great seeing the other mode of Trisky, too. Nice video!

[@SyntheticReign]

Seth: Absolutely bodies control with Saw it Coming, Wrenn and Seven, and board wipes/removal. Also Seth: Maybe Triskaidekaphile is a good card!

[@apjapki]

When Seth says "We're going to get janked out by delver", you realise the word jank has lost all meaning.

[@Pixelatedude6]

very fitting for this deck that the final attack in the video was exactly from 13 to zero with a 13/13

[@PinkPajamas464]

The best win was swinging for an exact kill with a 13/13 treefolk.

[@dicarosmith8681]

never clicked on a video so fast in my life. been stoked for this one!

[@MTGGoldfish]

Enjoy!

[@PhetaFox]

Coulda drawn a card with triska to keep it alive at 21:00

[@TheCardq]

It pained me so much during match 3 where he was blaming his mana woes on the questionable mana available in standard when the problem was that he kept a 1 land hand with only 2 cantrips for fixing. Shard mana is fine enough in a slower deck like this one, as long as you know how to mulligan right.

[@jesselaplante1040]

This was such a fun deck to watch you pilot! Very cool cards and awesome wins with Triskeidecaphile

[@jessedorval7051]

I'm sure it was said in the comments several times but not only did you get the triskadekaphile win a few times but you literally closed out the last game beating the opponent to death with a 13/13 treefolk when they were at 13 lol nice job on that Seth keep up the great work and have a nice day will you

[@michaelmcphee2006]

Approximately 0% of the time should you not make a treefolk with Wren right away.

[@mutaharyourmomisinmyharema1373]

Not even close to true mate

[@TheCardq]

The times you plus are when you don't have enough loyalty to do the thing you actually want to do or when you just need to have lands in hand, or non-lands in the bin. You only zero when you need landfall triggers or when you have 3+ lands in hand, and making a treefolk isn't better. You make a treefolk if you're behind on board, if your opponent controls a decent amount of flying power, if you're at parity on board, or if making the treefolk gives you a much faster clock on the opponent. You also make a treefolk if you expect your opponent will be able to answer Wrenn quickly without using creatures. I'd say this does account for probably about 95% of first turns with Wrenn. I'd say it's always correct to ultimate Wrenn if you can recast her afterwards, and usually correct even if you can't. I'd go so far as to say that the strongest Wrenn decks will try to have some synergy with every ability, playing only land ramp where possible, caring about landfall, playing Esika's chariot, and having someway to have no maximum handsize or gain value from discarding to handsize after an ultimate.

[@michaelmcphee2006]

@@TheCardq Within the realms of mtg hyperbole, I consider 5% approximately 0%. But your breakdown is pretty damn accurate.

[@TheCardq]

@@michaelmcphee2006 yeah 5% is infact approximately 0 for the purposes of KZbin comment sections.

[@perrosobreruedas]

If you can't beat them with Triskaidekaphile I guess the most thematic way to beat them is with a 13/13 Treefolk when they're exactly at 13 life as in the last game!

[@manvsmanatee1793]

Neat

[@McArRuIzO]

19:50 Triskidekophile beat down win, you could have dealt 13 damage to him on that swing. Flavor win.

[@zech1092]

You're excitement when the deck is about to do its thing is infectious, and I love it! Thank you for the awesome videos and hilarious decks!

[@sunutopia]

19:52 well if the opponent did stick around and you chose not to play a land, it would’ve been 13 damage, which I’m sure still is the spirit of triskaidekaphile.

[@ironbloodxiii]

Haven't been super into MTG in a couple years, I thought Bant first, Sultai as a secondary possible color scheme

[@someguy2349]

This deck makes it seem like UW control could be a thing in standerd

[@yoye123]

No my way to outstock 13phile

[@chuchi741]

It frustrates me to see how he goes "We're one off" but has plenty of mana to draw from Triska's ability that can be activated in instant speed.

[@alexschlinkert5856]

If you are thinking of drawing on upkeep, that doesn't work.

[@chuchi741]

@@alexschlinkert5856 ah I see since the wording is "At the beginning of upkeep" so it had to be on the opponent's end step with 4 open mana

[@DeLiSacc]

Looking at first game - Does he realize "Triskaidekaphile" has "Draw a card" attached to it? "We are literally one off"

[@alexschlinkert5856]

I don't see a spot where that would have mattered.

[@rnarose6813]

@@alexschlinkert5856 12:06 twelve cards in hand and triska on board, go full control draw a card during upkeep with the trigger on the stack and win

[@alexschlinkert5856]

@@rnarose6813 that doesn't work how you think. Because of the intervening if clause, the trigger won't be put onto the stack unless you already have 13 cards in hand.

[@rnarose6813]

@HughesClues huh. the more you know 🌈

[@nolan4339]

This really showed the incredible power of Wrenn. Overpowered? maybe...

[@bobbyhanson346]

11:55 Seth, put a stop on your beginning phase. After untap, draw cards with Triskaidekaphile to get you up to 13. Win.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Unfortunately there isn't a place to stop before your upkeep (untap happens first, but that's not a real phase in the sense that you can do anything during it), so there isn't a window to draw with Triskaidekaphile on your upkeep to get to 13 (you can draw on your upkeep, but the beginning of upkeep would already be past so it wouldn't trigger). Would be nice if it did work though, would make the Trisk win a lot easier.

[@bobbyhanson346]

@@MTGGoldfish Thanks for the explanation.

[@matheusbc9622]

seth when you look at the number of cards in your deck you can check your hand too!!!!

[@ralphtiff8559]

Gotta love the last kill being a 13/13 killing an opponent with 13 hp.

[@NameEntry]

Do you think Fateful Absence is good enough for historic?

[@kennethwashington2686]

is that captain beefhart in the backround in the beggining? respect.

[@schadenfreude4846]

just bought 4 Wrenn and Seven’s because of this video

[@phoebesnow7142]

Match 1 you still won with 13 damage so it counts! :D

[@bigwig8657]

Triskadeckaphile wins or resolved 3 wrenns wins?

[@josephrion3514]

14 minutes in in response to upkeep starting after untap step draw cards using the thirteen lover. Right? Not in arena I see would be legal in paper though. Also if you had mana open you can do it on their endstep.

[@josephrion3514]

I think it was game one of match two something like twenty five minutes in it felt like you were over extending your hand again like you can win sooner if you just keep more cards in hand it felt like.

[@johnvoorhees3441]

In this series, showing off the strength of wrenn and seven

[@bow972]

flow of knowledge would really help this deck

[@lucasseidemann3708]

The deck needs a manasink that advances the boardstate.

[@craigejacobs]

Lesson learned: No matter how janky the deck, Wrenn and Seven can almost win games on its own. Best PW in the format IMO. LoL. Should have read other comments before posting. I didn't. Honest.

[@NameEntry]

Seth needs to record his troll laugh and sell it.

[@Dragiceoriginal]

The Cultivator seems pretty horrible in this deck. You’ve only 4 basics it can hit in the entire deck, seems way too likely to be a whiff. Wonder if this deck wouldn’t’ve been better as just UG

[@ChaosForce08]

Quandrix Command and/or Devious Cover-up might be a good ways to make sure you don't mill out. You can also the former to save a Triskadekaphile in the late game when the opponent tries to kill it. Also, Opponent at 1:17:10 made a huge mistake not getting back Kaya and not 0'ing Lolth. Yes, the spiders are good, but card draw is good too when you're that low on cards and spiders means giving up Lolth.

[@aarlavaan]

awesome content, as usual. although I think you had a punt against the cleric deck. if you hadn't waited until the hive was a creature, they wouldn't have been able to save it. you could have Field of Ruined it with the activation trigger on the stack instead.

[@JonathanKelley1979]

The fact that the Triskaidekaphile program ended with a hit of a 13/13 creature hitting someone whose life total of 13 is a bit on the nose. Don't you think?

[@jamesrule1338]

Not the style of deck I'd normally play, but interesting. Really shows the power of Wrenn and Seven, a card I will no longer underestimate.

[@lordmeep5803]

Ok but what if you cut the bad cards (triskaidekaphobia, bad card draw) and put in good cards and just played Bant and won because Wren and Seven is good?

[@AaronRotenberg]

19:32 "Look at me. I'm the aggro now."

[@Kryptnyt]

Ah yes, the Triskaideka-pile.

[@DylanHunter64]

Man, that delver deck looked really good up until it got completely stonewalled by Wrenn and Seven. What a savior lol

[@Divinevert]

Against the Odds time....we are WRENN'ing. Fixed it for you.

[@mustakragen6103]

13\13 Treefolk killing opponent with 13 life is very fitting for this deck

[@matthewbrunell413]

I want to see if someone can make an alternate win tribal. There is about 3 or 4 other alternate win cards in standard alone.

[@losergamer7282]

W7 seems like a flashback to Eldraine, planeswalker with 4 abilities is insane.

[@HarleyFlammia]

I'm convinced that the games shuffler gives you land on purpose

[@monkeibusiness]

hey, playing the 29th land is more important than winning the game. Aaaahhh

[@Robin-ve7ck]

27:06 triskaidickaphile..I don’t even want to speculate

[@Chipperbane]

Bad Dragons. /hmm

[@chips8623]

Hey, game 1 you almost saw 13 lands. that's close to on theme?

[@thecrazycapn]

"Trisk trisk."

[@OGNoNameNobody]

Interesting take-away from the state of standard with this build: 3+ color decks are HARD MODE, without a Lesson package( *Environmental Sciences* ), at least until we reach _New Capenna_ ...

[@Crusina]

I hate lessons so much

[@austinmitchell2053]

Expanded Anatomy would be pretty good on goldspan.

[@androkguz]

6:27 I'm just gonna put this as my new ring tone

[@chaotemagick3]

How many hours did Seth spend in the mirror slowly repeating that word until he finally got the pronunciation lol

[@skyhops4618]

He’s had plenty of practice with triskaidekaphobia decks

[@petersteiman2443]

Super sweet as per usual Mr. Olive.

[@akidudontknow]

Petition to change the name and artwork of the card to Wrenn and Six

[@akidudontknow]

@Todd Packer had to look this up cause I didn’t realize it was a thing XD thought Seth was just making a mistake but now I see why

[@Sey318]

Every time Seth manually counts the cards in his hands I die a little inside. It's not his fault but it pains me that as a viewer I can't look at the stats manually, since it's a recording.

[@kebinus]

Soooo much fun 😊 love it

[@samueldavidson6502]

Could he not draw cards in his upkeep with the trigger on the stack? Like when he had 12 in hand.

[@FilippoCampana]

No cause the trigger activates only if you have the right number of cards

[@alexschlinkert5856]

The trigger has an intervening if clause, so it won't go on the stack unless you already have 13 cards in your hand.

[@JamesHerold]

At 43:10 or so after wrathing their board, could you have used the ‘0’ ability of Wrenn and Seven to put 7 lands onto the battlefield and play a second W&7 then tick down that one? (Instead of discarding those lands)

[@sturnn]

The lands come in tapped with the ability sadly, though it would be insane if they came in untapped

[@locust765]

W&7's '0' ability says those lands come in tapped, so he couldn't use them to cast the other W&7 until the next turn

[@stephenhousman6975]

So for Bant you have 12 Pathways and 8 Slow lands. I also think 3 color decks can't afford to have colorless lands especially in a deck like this where you need 2 or 3 mana of a given color. Maybe drop field, and 2 of the following forest, island, or plains for the last 3 pathways. Also doesn't arena keep track of your hand size?

[@dillonbaca9745]

> (draws for turn) > How do we get one more card in hand?????

[@kedros45]

also he has a million mana available and forgets that the 13-phile also has a draw ability

[@MstrKipper]

When are you talking about that it would have been profitable for him to draw cards with it?

[@kedros45]

@@MstrKipper in the first matchup, Seth has a few near misses in which he has 12 cards in hand and was looking for a way to draw 1 more. Later in the video he figured out that 13phile also draws

[@alexschlinkert5856]

@@kedros45 I don't actually see anywhere in the first match where that would have mattered though.

[@raymondhorn1052]

@@kedros45 that's not how the card works. The ability doesn't go on the stack unless you have 13 at the BEGINNING of the upkeep. There is nothing to respond to

[@fredouellet3160]

Not sure if someone else mentionned it, but you should know that if you hover your mouse over your library, you can see how many cards you have in hand, graveyard and exile. Not that usefull unless you have 12 or 13 cards in hand ;)

[@Darchias]

How in the hell does Triskedekaphile NOT have a tool tip to tell you have many cards you have in hand.

[@zachgray4767]

Because there already is one?

[@JonaxII]

Easy: because you already have one on your deck.

[@whitesmith5985]

The animations have no right to be this good!!! 😍😍😍

[@martinmackenzie5127]

You know there's a much easier way to count the number of cards in hand, right?

[@timothyacowin9761]

12:20 he could of drawn with his ability with trigger on the stack

[@raymondhorn1052]

Nope! The ability doesn't go on the stack unless the card sees that you have 13 in hand at the BEGINNING of the upkeep.

[@seanmurphy3430]

"We need to find a way to get one more card in hand." *draws card for turn*

[@PsionicMonk]

Couldn't you use triskadekaphile to draw the last card during the upkeep to win? 12:05