R/w Devotion at FNM

CDW

 

He'll bring out the Fanatic in YOU!



        After my less than stellar performance at the Billings State Championships I took a break from magic and focused on the real priorities in life.  Family, church, friends etc. and it helped remove the funk I'd allowed myself to fall into. Last week I decided to return to my comfort zone in Red based aggro decks.  Almost every deck I've ever played in a competitive scene has featured red in it.  The GW I took to the States Championship was a completely new beast and my lack of familiarity with designing a deck based upon these colors and attitude set me up for failure. 

 

       The red deck I chose to bring with me to a tournament in Milwaukee, Oregon was Boros or R/w Devotion build. 

 

Boros Fanatics

 

 

 

 

Creatures:26

Rakdos Cacklerx4

Firedrinker Satyrx2

Ash Zealotx4

Burning-Tree Emmisaryx4

Chandra's Phoenix x4

Boros Reckonerx3

Fanatic of Mogis x4

Purphoros, god of the Forgex1

 

Spells:13

Chained to the Rocksx1

Magma Jetx4

Lightning Strikex4

Boros Charmx4

 

Lands:21

Sacred Foundryx4

Temple of Triumphx3

Plainsx2

Mountainsx12

 

 

Quick Analysis

 

        This particular Red Devotion design splashes white for access to Boros Charm and non-red removal in the form of Chained to the Rocks.   The charm protects the decks board presence and devotion count.  While Chained to the Rocks allows the deck to efficiently remove threats, such as Desecration demon or Master of Waves, which are immune to many of red's threats and removal.  No Mutavaults removed the possibility of missing a turn three reckoner. 

 

 

The Tournament

 

        The venue of choice was Epic Games. An excellent shop located in Milwaukee, Oregon.  Every opponent I faced was at least a solid player and if you are the type of player seeking a competitive environment, this could be a great home for you.   We had almost thirty attendees. 

Note:  While the match scores are completely accurate, I'm writing the games from memory so I apologize to my opponents if they stumble upon this and see an inaccuracy. 

 

Match 1:  Matched up against a relaxed gentleman named Bruce, running Rakdos or RB Aggro.  This was a straightforward match as I used a mixture of burn and Ash Zealots to control the board until I began dropping Phoenixes in both mathes.  Scoring 2-0 in my favor.

Match 2:   My Second round opponent's last name was Nishimoto.  He ran a Mono-Black Devotion variant that seemed to focus on using lifegain to stall and deal damage using Sanguine Bond.  Game 1 he flooded and I overran him with phoenixes, even after I had mulliganed down to five.  Game two he quickly stabilized between removal and a turn four Desecration demon.  The last game came down to a timely Boros Charm deflecting his Heroe's Downfall from killing Boros Reckoner, allowing the Reckoner and a Phoenix to swing in for five.  He never recovered from this loss in tempo and I won the game shortly thereafter.  Boros Devotion goes 2-1 this round. 



 

Match 3:  Round 3 was Mono-Black again!  My opponent's name was Chris Cech.   His version of Mono-black seemed even very removal heavy and relied only on Grey Merchant for life gain.  I took game one as Chris drew mostly lands and all of his copies of underworld connections.  Game two, was extremely close, but an early and active Erebos stonewalled and pressured me as his plethora of removal allowed him to begin to attack in.  The final game came down to Chris facing a difficult choice after I put him down to four life, the same as mine.  He had Erebos, Nightveil Specter and a Grey Merchant upon the field.  They were facing a single phoenix as a blocker.  He failed to draw a removal spell and spent five minutes pondering whether to go for it and risk one of the cards in my hand being a kill spell, which would leave me alive to swing back for lethal, or staying back and blocking.  Finally he decided to go for it and I showed him a hand with two lands.  An excellent match against a great opponent.  Loss 1-2. 

Match 4: I played a Mono-Blue Devotion deck piloted by Max.  There isn't much to report here as I had a slow hand game one and succumb to his flyers and game two I mulligan twice before getting stuck on one land and dying soon after.  Loss 0-2. 

Match 5:  The final game was against a GR Ramp deck.  The deck focused on using early land destruction to slow its opponents and ramp into huge threats.  However like most land destruction decks in Standard it fell short.  My opponent would draw a few good ramp creatures, such as sylvan caryatid.  Allowing him to destroy one of my lands early on.  However, agro decks do not require any significant amount of land to function and all his land slaying efforts did was allow me to build my board.  Boros Reckone was a beast both games killing Ember Swallowers and swinging past Caryatids.  A relatively easy 2-0 win. 

 

 

Results and Thoughts

 

        My 3-2 finish was good enough to net me seventh place and fifteen dollars in store credit.  A positive beginning, after my break.  A real eye opener was how much I've missed playing red based decks.  The deck was a solid contender, but we can do better.  I will be experimenting with many variants based upon R/w and will report their results in the future.  This coming week we'll be taking a step into a Let's Build X article where I will select an underplayed or interesting card and build an aggro deck around it.  The card we will be examining is Lyev Skyknight, for you Azorius fans. 

 

 













Selesnya at States

MTG CDW

Tilted?

        Ever have a day where you just started to feel "meh" about everything?  I had one of those days at Montana States in Billings.  Before we get too far into this it should be known I'm not a particularly negative person when it comes to magic.  But, for one day I experienced an inner turmoil, never felt before, playing this game.  We'll cover my less than exciting states experience after a quick analysis of the deck I selected. 

GW Aggro

Creatures:19

Experiment Onex4

Champion of the Pantheonx4

Fleecemane Lionx4

Imposing Sovereignx3

Loxodons Smiterx4

 Instants:15

gods willingx2

brave the elementsx2

Selesnya Charmx4

Rootborn Defensex2

Ready/Willingx1
Advent of the Wurmx4

Sorceries: 2
Call of the Conclavex2

Planeswalker:2
Ajani, Caller of the Pridex2

Lands:22
Selesnya guildgatex1
Temple Gardenx4
Forestsx9
Plainsx8

Analysis

        The idea of this deck is to play powerful creatures, such as Fleecemane Lion and Loxodon Smiter.  Then protect them or give them evasion with cards like gods willing, brave the elements and rootborn defense.  However, I lost sight on the need to focus on playing threats and became too concerned with protecting my strong value creatures.  This weakness in my deck came to bite me several times during the tournament.     

Games

Match One:  My opponent is playing an interesting Golgari brew.  His build focused on enchantments, enchantment creatures and a strong suite of black removal.   Game 1 saw me overrun him with fleecemane lions and an Advent of the Wurm, protected by my instants.   Game two was a slugfest as he placed multiple enchantments on a single creature and combined with a Whip of Erebos, was able to hold off two monstrous Fleecemane Lions before succumbing to several Advents of the Wurm.

Match Two:  Going into the match I was feeling confident.  Little did I know this match set the tone for the rest of my day.  Game one I kept a two land hand with two plains, a little sketch yes.  But, I figured the ability to play several cards and stall until I hit my green would be fine.  I already knew my opponent was playing Mono Red Devotion and figured a mix of Champion of the Pantheon and Imposing Sovereign would be fine to stall until I could draw into gree.  I then proceeded to draw everything but a green producing land for 8 TURNS!  "Wow, just wow" I thought and proceeded to sideboard in two Unflinching Courages and two Fiendslayer Paladins.   Unfortunately my deck was still convinced I was playing a mono-white deck and I died in game two by turn 8 or 9.   

 

Post Match: Following match two I was frustrated.  My opponent had been a decent enough magic payer and was a pretty nice kid to boot.  But, I knew if I had managed to find a single green mana-source both games would have been a completely different.  All the typical thoughts leading down the path to being "tilted" were flowing through my head.  Now for those unfamiliar with the term "tilted" it's a word coined in poker jargon.   It is a very negative state of mind filled with frustration and anger that leads to poor plays in poker/Magic.  I dragged my irritation and frustration with me into my third match. 

 

Match 3:  I played a game against my buddy Joey and his Primeval Bant deck.  He's a big rogue deck fan and addicted to brewing.  The idea of his deck was to stall using life gain from cards such as Centaur Healer and Supreme Verdict to give him time to ramp into huge cards like Angel of Serenity and Primeval Bounty. During Game 1 I ran him over, but it was closer near the end than the game should have been.  Due to being tilted I made the mistake of playing a Soldier of the Pantheon before the Experiment One in my hand.  Missing the two damage I could have used from my Experiment One turned out to be huge as Joey almost managed to stabilize at two life when he would have been dead a two turns earlier.  Game 2 I boarded in a second Read/Willing and a third Rootborn Defense for the Supreme Verdicts.  Joey took Game 2 as he wiped my board with and Verdict and ramped up into a Primeval Bounty which gave him constant life and creatures to win the game.  Game 3 I pulled the nut GW draw.  The hand was Experiment one, Fleecemane, Lione, Imposing Sovereign, Loxodon Smiter, Glare of Heresy, two plains and a forest.  This aggressive hand went the distance even after a Supreme Verdict from Joey. 

 

Match 4:  This match was a faceoff against a sort of R/G hydra deck.  There's  a sort of rule or wisdom in the Magic community stating the green deck with the bigger creatures wins and it was definitely true in this matchup.  My opponent grew his Savageborn Hydra's and Scavenging Oozes until I couldn't handle them and all of my creature protection spells only stalled him a little bit.  This is one match where having a multitude of creature protection spells really bit me.  Instead of being able to deploy more threats, I was constantly just saving my few creatures.  Allowing my opponent to just continue laying down beefy creature after beef creature.  The deck also, flooded badly both games, adding to my woes.  I was easily overrun in two games.

 

Match 5:  This wasn't much of a match.  My opponent was mana-screwed both games and apparently was having as bad of a day as I was.  I won 2-0. 

 

Match 6:  Played the mirror.  Meaning he was GW Aggro as well for those new to magic.  The same issue in my deck design showed it's face again.  My opponent drew better, but most of all was playing more threats than I could handle. While I hade hands protecting my one or two decent sized creatures, which really meant nothing in the long term.  I lost both games quickly. 

 

 

Post Tournament Thoughts

 

 

        So going 3-3 isn't great and I placed 19th out of 40 players.  Confirming a mediocre showing from myself and my deck design.  But, there's a lesson here that I've learned well after the tournament and it's one every aggro player should be aware of.  Keep your deck design focused!  When playing aggro, one should aim to get their opponent under pressure and their life total at zero as quickly as possible.  I lost sight of this and should have made all of those protection spells into more threats to bring the beatdown to my opponents.  I deserved this weak showing and have become better because of it.  The fact I allowed myself to tilt in a game fraught with chance forced me to see another lesson.  No matter how well you "believe" you've constructed your deck, at some point you will see questionable to hideous hands.  These may cause you to lose the game.  Should this occur, shrug it off!  I could have lost that game against Joey just because I played my cards in the wrong order, due to my anger.  Possibly resulting in an even worse standing in the tournament.  Never lose your cool, smile, laugh, pray or whatever you need to do to keep your head in the game and make the correct plays.  This is one of the biggest differences between Professional players and your average magic Joe.  



        Now this post has gone on long enough and I'm going to call it quits here.  I've finally found the deck style I want to play in standard and I'll be showing my deck build and FNM results next week. 



 

 

 Remember:  Keep calm and apply pressure!

 

Final Golgari Thoughts

CDW

When decay meets girl.

        Having taken a little hiatus and played in the Montana State TCG tournament in Billings, we are back in the saddle.   A post will be written up concerning the games and the major decks types played there.  But today, we'll be wrapping up our Golgari based brew, before moving on to new Magic horizons.  

       The honest truth about the original brew was the deck performed poorly during play testing.  It was caught between being an aggro and midrange deck and as a result was unable to do either efficiently.  The direction we will be taking the deck today will be toward aggro.  

Golgari Evolution 

Creatures:29

Experiment Onex4

Elvish Mysticx4

Kalonian Tuskerx4
Scavenging Oozex2

Lolteth Trollx4

Renegade Krasisx4

Boon Satyrx4

Polukranosx3

Instants:10

Golgari Charmx4

Abrupt Decayx3

Putrefyx3

Lands:21

Overgrown Tombx4

Golgari Guildgatex3

Forestsx10

Swampsx4

        Analysis:

        

        Ahhh, that already feels better.   Here we have a much faster and leaner version of Golgari aggro.  Unfortunately we had to remove Reaper of the Wilds since she does not lend herself to the deck's new game plan.  We've also lost Nylea, god of the Hunt and Desecration Demon from the deck for the same reason.  So why does Polukranos  get the pass?  First he's not board dependent like Nylea, who forced the old deck version to overextend into mass removal against control or decks armed with a plethora of kill spells. He also has the ability to get huge mid to late game and act as another kill spell with his monstrous ability.  He acts as a better form of pressure for a green aggro deck than Desecration Demon, due to the deck's heavy green mana base and unlike the demon he is not as reliant on your opponent's decision making.   His final benefit is the ability to easily evolve any Renegade Krasises that have already been evolved once.

        Our color combination gains us access to excellent aggro creatures, such as Experiment One, Kalonian Tusker and Lotleth Troll.  Boon Satyr is able to dodge mass removal and can be a potent late game combat trick.  Scavenging Ooze has replaced Varolz, the Scar-Striped due to its great synergy with the Lotleth Troll, turning discarded or killed creatures into a resource.   Our rogue creature choice is the Renegade Krasis.  This three drop has a sort of "lord" effect when it evolves.  For those unfamiliar with the term "lord" in the context of magic, it is a creature whose presence buffs the rest of your creatures.  The Krasis turns our effecient early creatures into a formidable team.

       While Golgari lack access to burn spells ,we're used to seeing in aggro decks, our non-creature spells are very potent.  Abrupt Decay and Putrefy are two very flexible removal options and golgari charm allows us to hit enchantments, remove small blockers and most importantly protect our creatures against mass removal.            

Final Thoughts:

          This more streamlined and focused version of Golgari feels very good.  One has to wonder if Kalonian Hydra or Dreg Mangler should be in the list.  I chose not to put them in because Kalonian Hydra may be hard to reliably cast in a deck with twenty-one lands and boon satyr is just plain better than Dreg Mangler. But play testing may prove otherwise.  Updates on this deck will be posted in the future for fellow Golgari lovers.  However for now we'll give the subject a rest and put the deck aside for a bit.  

       Also I would like to note GW Aggro took first at the Montana State Championship in Billings against a field featuring many midrange and dirty Esper Control decks.  Knowing Esper failed to take first warms my heart boys and girls and as usual good luck this coming FNM.  

Theros: Creatures of Interest

CDW

Epic...that is all.

        It's time to take a break from all the Golgari chatter.  Today Tallen is going to be discussing several of the interesting creatures brought to us by Theros.   And how they bring new tools to the aggro player.  Let's get into the red zone!  

        Whew...feeling a little warm under the collar for this one.  A 2/1 for one mana is pretty solid.  But this isn't new, considering Dryad Militant is a 2/1 as well.  However, our little soldier has some skills.  He's a one drop with protection from MULTICOLORED.  Yep, not just from creatures, our brave little man dodges any multicolored removal as well, with the bonus of gaining us extra life.  This is incredibly useful in a format filled with powerful multi-colored cards from the Return to Ravnica sets.  Is he a Champion of the Parish?  No, but he is incredibly powerful in his own way, giving white decks a great one drop for the future.

        An admission must be made.  Upon first glance this is a solid 3/3 for two mana and I wondered how this was any better than a Call of the Conclave.  Thankfully I read on and saw his monstrous affects.  Well, hello there... hexproof and indestructible 4/4.    This cat is a control player's nightmare.  The only cards or abilities capable of interacting with a monstrous Fleecemane Lion are sacrificial effects.  This card will see play in many G/W aggro decks.  

        Let's change it up a bit with a non-white card.  I love this guy, period.  If someone thought I was a fan of the previous creatures then you need to be enlightened.  I'm a black/red player at heart.  They are two of the most destructive and aggressive colors in Magic.  They are the essence of aggro, in my opinion.  So how can we use this guy?  First his sacrificial ability is very good for two mana.  Experienced aggro players know there comes a time in a game where you can get stalled out.  Tymaret allows your creatures to have value, even if the opponent has great blockers, such as Boros Reckoner on the field.  Ideal sacrificial targets are early game creatures, such as Rakdos Cackler and Spike Jester.  Both lose their great value as the game progresses and Tymaret let's each deal a last, spiteful, two damage, to help end the game.  His second ability is not as impressive, but a recursion affect with a steep cost can be useful in certain situations.  All in all I really like the tools he brings to my favorite colors.  

        Narnia fans, Tumnus is back and armed!  Boon Satyr has great potential in aggro-tempo decks.  Flash let's our satyr move at instant speed.  Allowing him to dodge board wipe affects, a desirable ability.  He's a 4 power creature for three mana cost and his Bestow mechanic can enhance other creatures. Should your opponent kill the enchanted creature, you still have a  4/2 satyr to work with.  Allowing us to avoid a two for one card loss.  Boon Satyr should find its way into several card slots in decks using green spells, especially the mono-green archetype.  

        One word to describe this creature, potential.  The fiery adept has potential with the good number of scry spells released by Theros.  She will likely find a home in a blue/red tempo deck, due to these colors having access to some of the best scry spells.   Two great examples of scry spells are voyage's end and magma jet.  Flamespeaker Adept is not for every deck, but in a deck built around her, like tempo, she will be able to exert a great deal of pressure on the opponent.  

          Hopefully this post has your aggro minds whirring with ideas and  teaches us to pay close attention to the less hyped cards before a new set is released.  We aggro players need to analyze our options to find the new workhorse creatures to build our game plan around.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Golgari Wilds Continued

CDW

Channeling his inner Goku

        Welcome back to our journey through the Golgari Wilds.  Today we'll be discussing the non-creature options available to the black and green color spectrum.  Let's get right into showing our contenders

Give Green card draw?  Yes!

"Caller of Beats"

Instants:
Abrupt Decay
Doom blade
Golgari Charm
Putrefy
Hero's downfall

Sorcery:
Thoughtseize 
Duress

Enchantments:
Underworld Connections
Primeval Bounty

     



        These are our mainstream choices.  Each has seen competitive play, at some point.  Yes, even Primeval bounty has found a sideboard.  What benefits, do these cards offer Golgari Wilds?  We have to go back to the core concept in the last article to answer this inquiry.  Goglari wilds wants to play big and hard to remove threats, backed by flexible removal.  However, one key factor I should have added into a deck like this is the need for card draw.  This will supply the gas needed to keep dropping threats and have the removal when we require it.  So let's make some choices.

Instants:3                                      Sorcery:0                               Enchantments:5
Abrupt Decay x3                                                                        Underworld Connections x3
                                                                                                  Primeval bounty x2

Planeswalkers:3
Garruk, Caller of Beasts x3

        Hmm ok.  So all those options and we only end up with three actual removal spells, five enchantments and three Garruks.  Why this initial set up?  Remember we want  to pressure the opponent with our creatures!  Therefore, we want the green version of Sphinx's Revelation, Garruk, Caller of Beasts.  However, Garruk is quite a bit more narrow than Sphinx's Revelation as his first ability only hits creatures.  This means any deck with the Caller of Beasts has to build around his abilities.  Thankfully our colors supply wonderful creature targets.  But, this means our non-creature spell count has to be quite low in order to ensure value from our Garruks.

       What is the explanation for the rest of our choices?   Abrupt Decay kills problematic Boros Reckoners dead.  Underworld connections is a workhorse.  It let's us sift through the deck faster and continue playing threats.  Primeval Bounty is just plain value.  Similar to Garruk, it's a card we want to ramp into it early or mid-game and then pull value from its abilities.  Playing a late game elf and having it enter play with its own 3/3 beast token pet sure sounds pleasing to the ear.  Put plainly, Primeval Bounty rewards our deck for following its big creature game plan.

        Hope all you wonderful aggro players enjoyed your evening of Friday Night Magic.  Theros is just around the corner and we need to be ready, to pounce upon an unprepared and vulnerable meta game.  Sort of like....

Yep, a Cheetah

Golgari Brew with a side of Theros

CDW

Proof that ugly can be awe inspiring!

        I'm excited.  I can't lie. I'm loving the process of brewing this deck.  This is not just because the Golgari Guild (green/black) is my favorite guild from the Ravnica set.  It's my own personal brew, inspired by several new cards from the coming Theros set.  Similar to a father's loves for his child, I'm fond of my original ideas.  However, there is no evidence the deck idea is effective in competitive play.  Matter of fact the deck was just conceived today.  Following the parent and child metaphor, this deck needs to learn to crawl before it can walk. So let's build this love child from the ground up.  This post will start with the deck concept, discuss the creatures available and analyze the benefits they bring.

        Before we begin, some may be wondering why you should care about my personal deck that isn't even play tested nor used in a competitive setting.  Here's a quick list as to why you should care.

1. We love the Golgari Guild's exotic background and the flavor of its creatures and want to see a potentially good creature deck based around these its colors.  
2. You enjoy brewing decks and originality as much as I do.
3. We want a competitive beater deck, similar to big mono-green decks.  But, has access to more flexibility.  
4. New cards from Theros will be featured in this deck and their potential will be discussed.  
5. You too love decks with graveyard interactions.  

Brewing: Golgari Wilds (Post-Theros Rotation)

Concept:  Bring resilient creatures, the ability to recycle them and flexible removal as only the green/black color combination can.

Step One: This blog is called Creature Deck Wins and we need a solid core, featuring the best green/black  has to offer.

The Creature Core:              
Elvish Mystic
Kalonian Tusker
Lolteth Troll
Varolz, the Scar-Striped
Witchstalker
Reaper of the Wilds
Nylea, god of the hunt or Desecration Demon

        Let's start with the one mana cost creatures and work our way up.  Our first candidate is the Elvish Mystic, an excellent addition for the early game ramp into our quality three and four drops.  For the two drop slot we have Kalonian Tusker, an effecient beater and excellent scavenge target.  His fellow two drop, Lolteth Troll is a resilient beater that turns irrelevant creature draws into counters for him and sets up future scavenging targets for Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Varolz turns our graveyard into a resource.  His ability grants scavenge to our dead creatures.  Allowing even the smallest elf to become a threat and turning our bigger beaters into overwhelming threats.  Witchstalker may seem like a sideboard card, but a hexproof 3/3 with the ability to take advantage of opponents playing black or blue spells on our turn is very strong.  He works well with Varolz as a powerful creature to scavenge on to.

        Ah the four drops, our first contestant hails from the plane of Theros and was a key player for inspiring this brew.  let's begin with the Reaper of the Wilds.  I scry whenever a creature dies?  Seems good.  Oh she has death touch?  How thematic.  And hexproof? Seriously? Wow, 3 solid abilities, and a sexy 4/5 body on top of that? For four mana! I think Varolz just found his girl.  Let's summarize what this new gorgon brings to the deck.

1.  Less dead draw steps with her scry ability.

2. difficult to block and attack into, thanks to her tough body and death touch.

3. Hard to remove with hexproof.  She's a great late game draw, when six mana is available.

        Our final two card options for the creature core.  She-Hulk...I mean Nylea, god of the Hunt and the blasphemous Desecration Demon.  Both bring viable tools to Golgai Wilds.  let's compare the two.

Nylea's Pros:

• An indestructible and 6/6 body?  Appropriate for the Magic She-Hulk.  
• Grants our creatures a way to get damage though with trample.  
• Has a nice bonus ability to buff our other creatures. 
• She's a steal at four mana for what she gives us.
• A great creature to scavenge onto or from.      

Nylea's Cons:

• Reliant on devotion to become a creature.
• Done!  (Well I could for hexproof, but that would be extremely greedy.)

Desecration Demon's Pros:

• He works out at the same gym as Nylea coming in with a huge 6/6 body of his own.  
• Possesses evasion in the form of flying.  
• Great attrition creature with his sacrifice ability.
• Great cost to power ratio at four mana.
• Another great creature to scavenge from.  

Desecration Demon's Cons:

• His sacrifice ability can be to our detriment.  
• He's vulnerable to "destroy target creature spells."

Verdict?  

       WOW!  These two creatures are value with a capital "V" a majority of the time.  Making the decision of choosing between the two incredibly difficult.  Nylea is a great team player with the deck and relies on us having a good board, so her devotion activates.  Her ability to grant a +2/+2 buff to a creature is a reasonable mana sink and fits with her role as a beater and team player.  Desecration Demon is strong as an independent card.  An scenario where he is potentially stronger than Nylea is when the opponent plays a destroy all creatures spell to wreck our board.  Making him a significantly better follow up than Nylea.   Reaper of the Wilds has a small crush on him as his sacrifice ability synergises well with her scrying activation.  He's more vulnerable to removal than Nylea though.   Honestly the choice between the two will be meta and deck build dependent.   So I'm going to test the deck with only Nylea or the demon.  Then try out both in the deck.  I have some misgivings about putting the demon into the same deck, because he doesn't add to her devotion count.  Play testing is a necessity for this decision.

Here's a list of other creatures we could or will see added to the final decklist.

Creature Possibilities:
Deathrite Shaman
Gladecover Scout
Gyre Sage
Scavenging Ooze
Lifebane Zombie
Dreg Mangler
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Polukranos, World Eater
Erebos, god of the Dead
Kalonian Hydra

      Look for the next post, where we'll discuss the deck's instant, sorcery and enchantment/artifact choices.   Once its finished a look at the current deck list will be taken next week, after testing.  And remember boys/girls to smile whenever a control player rages.

Brewing at CDW

 CDW

What gender is the one in the middle? Seriously. 

        That's right, Tallen is going to be doing some mental aerobics in conjunction with his physical workouts to prepare for the next FNM, at his local card shop.  FNM (Friday Night Magic.) for the new people, is a gathering of players looking to take a break from the rigors of the week to play Magic.  The ultimate goal of this event is to gain new players, keep the old ones interested and enjoy Magic as a community.  Speaking of community, the deck I'm going to be testing for this coming Friday's tournament is based around preserving my community of high powered, under costed and aggressive creatures.  This will be the first of a two article series.  The first is a pre-Theros brew that involves two of competitive Standard's least beloved planeswalkers.  The second will be my take on a post-Theros deck.  Utilizing the cards spoiled so far.

Deck: G/Walker Aggro (Pre-Theros Rotation)

Creatures:16
Experiment Onex4
Elvish Mysticx3
Imposing Sovereignx4
Loxodon Smiterx4

Other Spells:17
Call of the conclavex4
Selesnya Charmx4
Rootborn Defensex2
Read/Willingx2
Advent of the Wurmx4
Oblivion Ringx2

Planeswalkers:6
Ajani, Caller of the Pridex3
Gideon, Champion of Justicex3

Lands:
Godless Shrinex4
Overgrown tombx3
woodland cemetaryx1
Temple Gardenx4
Selesnya Guildgatex1
Forestsx4
Plainsx5

      Competitive players, you just had a reaction.   Big or small you had it.  "Tallen..." you say.  "Where's Voice of Resurgence in your two drop slot?"  It's the ultimate green/white card right?  It makes a token whenever your opponent plays a spell on your turn.  This token's power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you have on the battlefield.  Which is a huge boon to creature based decks.  So why isn't it here?  Well ,as Harry Potter learned, power comes with a price and the price tag retailers have decided to put our elemental deer at is over $30.00.  Now without going into a rant about how overpriced the Voice is let's look at why I chose to avoid it here.

 

       Taking center stage ,at the two drop slot, in place of Voice of Resurgence, is the Imposing Sovereign.  This tiny human has a major board effect that favors aggro strategies.  Tapped creatures can't block and allows the deck to get its early beats in without resistance.  The Sovereign's ability is also crippling against other aggressive decks' creatures.  Forcing their creatures to come into play tapped means not only can they not block, but their haste creatures cannot attack the turn they enter play.  Giving us the edge in a race scenario, where the goal is to get them down to zero life first.   Against any deck running creatures Imposing Sovereign will often have a valid role. This is the main reason I'm running it over the Voice, beside the fiscal cost.  

       Next let's do an analysis of G/Walker Aggro.  The deck is comprised of many high power for their cost creatures, with  access to the cards to ramp into them (Elvish Mystic) and protect them (Rootborn Defense, Ready/Willing.)  Allowing the pilot to ride the deck's efficient beaters to victory.  Despite its very direct approach G/Walkers has access to a certain level of subtle play.  There are a total of twelve instants in the deck which is pretty high for an aggro deck.  Allowing you to respond to your opponents plays and maintain your strong board position.  A great example is the oddball choice of Ready/Willing.  This is a powerful combat trick that can allow us to gain life and make great trades with opposing creatures. Or allow us to play offense and defense with its ability to untap our creatures, oh and they are indestructible blockers as well.  The deck has access to two Oblivion Rings as well to enhance the its flexibility.

        A significant difference you'll see in this deck from other green and white decks is the use of Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Gideon, Champion of Justice.  These two planeswalkers have seen little to no use in major competitive events.  They are also the two of the most aggressive planeswalkers in standard.  Ajani's minus ability is an amplified silverblade paladin ability.  Turning one of your creatures into a flying, double striking beater and Gideon is an indestructible creature who can become massive with his plus one ability.
        Like many I had almost zero interest in these two planeswalkers because their abilities are somewhat underwhelming on their own.  Paying three mana for just one +1/+1 counter isn't impressive at all in Ajani's case and Gideon's plus one is dependent on your opponent's board.  However Craig Wescoe, a well known pro-player, who specializes in white aggro decks has started showing them in different builds he's preparing for Theros.  His articles made made me want to try these two planeswalker pariahs,  in my own build. Now let's stop and summarize what they bring inside of a vacuum.
               
                   Ajani Pros:                                                          

• He's cheap at 3 mana. He makes big creatures bigger.  
• His minus ability grants evasion and massive potential damage output.  
• His final ability can break open a game if allowed to go off.  

                  Ajani Cons:

• Weak plus one ability.
• His second ability makes him easy to kill.
• His final ability is near impossible to pull off.  

               

                Gideon Pros:

• Can easily become a 6/6 or 7/7 with his first ability, for four mana.   
• Povides an indestructible attacker with his second ability.
• Similar to Ajani, if he's allowed to use his third ability it's game over.
• dodges wrath effects and most removal.

                  Gideon Cons:

• His size depends on your opponents field.  
• Cannot block.
• His final ability should never happen.

       So the key factors both planeswalkers bring to the deck is the ability to attack your opponent from different angles and present different kinds of threats to your opponent.  Ajani is similar to a double barrel shotgun.  You use him the turn he lands to deal massive damage to your opponent and anything else he does is gravy.  If your opponent leaves him alone then they can take a second round from an Ajani powered creature.  Should your opponent decide to kill Ajani this means they wasted time on him and you can continue to beat in on the opponent.  Gideon dodges wraths and is a hard to deal with attacker, which is great if the game goes late.  Remember this lesson aggro players, attack from multiple angles.  Many of the most successful aggro decks in Standard have been able to achieve consistent Top 8 results because they are designed to have more than one attack vector and ways to deal damage.  A great example of this Philosophy is the Junk Aristocrats deck run by Brad Nelson back in June.  The deck has many ways to attack the opponent's life total.  Either through tried and true combat damage, blood artist triggers, multiple forms of evasion or resilient threats.   Junk Aristocrats found the way to get at the opponent's life total.  

        Junk aristocrats is rotating this month with the coming of Theros.  However its example should be followed by all aggro pilots and deck creators looking to make a Top 8.   This brew is definitely still in its infancy, but I will be testing it this coming week and be back with my thoughts, changes and results.    

       Good luck this coming Friday my fellow aggro players.  If your opponents rage about losing to a "brainless" aggro deck then you should smile.  Because you know the truth about good aggro decks. 

(All credit goes to Mr. Wescoe, for being willing to give Ajani and Gideon a chance in competitive play.)