I’m going to be looking through a few of the recent http://www.magic-league.com/ decklists today to see what’s been shaking up the metagame! Glad you could join me :).
Disclaimer: You don’t normally find the most ULTRA decks on magic-league, but they have a very large sample size. This isn’t a showcase of decks that won 1st place at various PT’s, but more a general listing of some of the newer decks that have placed well in their tournaments. The goal here was to find consistent, high placing decks over many events, not one be-all-end-all decklist that won a single major event.
Here are a few of the new decks that seem to be emerging. I’ll post them, take a look at why it’s successful, then offer advice on some of the cards that may be under the radar at the moment so you can pick them up on the cheap! :P
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GR Kessig Ramp (Oct 13 – Comodope’s List)
SPELLS | LANDS | SIDEBOARD |
3 Primeval Titan 1 Acidic Slime 4 Viridian Emissary 3 Wurmcoil Engine 3 Solemn Simulacrum 1 Birds of Paradise 4 Garruk, Primal Hunter 4 Beast Within 4 Green Sun Zenith 3 Slagstorm 4 Rampant Growth | 2 Kessig Wolf Run 4 Rootbound Craig 4 Inkmoth Nexus 4 Copperline Gorge 3 Mountain 9 Forest | 1 Slagstorm 2 Tree of Redemption 3 Thrun, the Last Troll 3 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Viridian Corruptor |
34 | 26 | 15 |
This deck seems to be popping up quite a bit lately on the Magic-League results. There were 2x of them in the top 4 of the nights performers, and it looks pretty solid. It reminds me of Valakut without the Valakut. It controls the aggro with Slagstorms & Wurmcoil Engines, has must-counter threats vs. control, and an alternate win condition in the form of Nexus + Pump from the Wolf Run. Looks like our old buddy Garruk, Primal Hunter finally found a home in this deck as well! I can only imagine swinging with a Kessig pumped Wurmcoil and then using his -3 ability to draw 1,000,000 cards :S. Thrun out of the board shores up on the U/B matchup since it basically can’t be killed by anything in their deck except for Black Sun Zenith, and the Tree seems pretty awesome vs. Mono Red and other fast decks.
Cards to keep an eye on that haven’t hit the big time yet or had fallen out of favor:
Thrun, the Last Troll
Tree of Redemption
Wurmcoil Engine
Garruk, Primal Hunter
UB Control (Oct 13 – Kayser’s List)
SPELLS | LANDS | SIDEBOARD |
1 Geth’s Verdict 1 Psychic Barrier 2 Batterskull 4 Think Twice 1 Army of the Damned 3 Forbidden Alchemy 2 Tribute to Hunger 2 Dismember 1 Negate 4 Dissipate 3 Black Suns Zenith 1 Go for the Throat 1 Doomblade 4 Mana Leak 4 Snapcaster Mage | 2 Ghost Quarter 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Drowned Catacombs 7 Island 6 Swamp 4 Inkmoth Nexus | 1 Black Sun’s Zenith 1 Tribute to Hunger 3 Flashfreeze 3 Surgical Extraction 4 Phyrexian Crusader 2 Steel Sabotage 1 Ratchet Bomb |
33 | 27 | 15 |
I’m surprised to see a U/B list here instead of a W/U list TBH. White has equal power removal in the form of Dismember and DoJ and I think DoJ > BSZ right now because of the “ramp” style strategies being played. Granted, DoJ can’t kill a Thrun, but aside from that 1 card, it just seems so much better! Snapcaster makes a showing as we all knew he eventually would, bringing back lots of removal and counters. 7 card draw spells and 10 counters makes this deck seem like the control decks of yore, preferring to counter instead of respond to a resolved threat. Another thing that I think U/W has going for it is the Moorland Haunt to generate more CA, which this deck doesn’t have. In fact, I don’t really see many ways to win except by Army of the Damned which is really cool, but seems unreliable. But hey, it almost got there, so maybe there’s something I’m missing?
Cards to keep an eye on that haven’t hit the big time yet or had fallen out of favor:
Army of the Damned
Black Suns Zenith
Surgical Extraction
Phyrexian Crusader
Ratchet Bomb
Red Deck Wins (Oct 13 – Tarat’s Deck)
SPELLS | LANDS | SIDEBOARD |
2 Volt Charge 3 Koth of the Hammer 3 Arc Trail 3 Incinerate 4 Brimstone Volley 4 Shrine of Burning Rage 2 Grim Lavamancer 2 Spikeshot Elder 2 Hero of Oxid Ridge 4 Stromkirk Noble 4 Stormblood Berserker 3 Chandras Phoenix 2 Gut Shot | 19 Mountain 4 Rootbound Craig | 1 Hero of Oxid Ridge 1 Arc Trail 4 Vulshok Refugee 2 Perilous Myr 4 Ancient Grudge 3 Traitorous Instinct |
37 | 23 | 15 |
This is a fairly different list that what we’ve been seeing lately as it brings back an old favorite… Koth! Volt charge now seems at least decent as it will buff quite a few things in this deck: Koth, Shrine, Noble & Stormblood Berserker making it much more useful than it used to be. Hero of Oxid Ridge is starting to shine because he helps get past annoying 0/13 Trees and Timely Reinforcement tokens.
Cards to keep an eye on that haven’t hit the big time yet or had fallen out of favor:
Koth of the Hammer
Hero of Oxid Ridge
Geist.Dec (Oct 11 – Ipsecmerlin’s Deck)
SPELLS | LANDS | SIDEBOARD |
4 Champion of the Parish 2 Gideon’s Lawkeeper 4 Elite Vanguard 4 Grand Abolisher 2 Phantasmal Image 2 Accorder Paladin 4 Mirran Crusader 4 Geist of Saint Traft 4 Angelic Destiny 3 Dismember 2 Oblivion Ring 1 Sword of War and Peace 1 Bonds of Faith | 12 Plains 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Seachome Coast 3 Moorland Haunt | 4 Negate 3 Revoke Existence 3 Celestial Purge 2 Bonds of Faith 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions |
37 | 23 | 15 |
I love this deck, and was hoping it would do well. Looks like a T3 Geist or Crusader into T4 Angelic Destiny will just end the game on its own. The rest of the deck frankly looks terrible and untuned, but that core of the deck is so strong it can just win on its own. I’m also a big fan of the Moorland Haunt, and the fact that the tokens can be repeatedly equipped with a sword or better yet, Destiny. I want to say again how much I HATE dismember and feel it’s the kind of card that warps / ruins formats. W/U decks should not have access to such amazing removal! So if you were wondering if the Geist deck had potential, it does!
Cards to keep an eye on that haven’t hit the big time yet or had fallen out of favor:
Grand Abolisher
Mirran Crusader
Angelic Destiny
Solar Flare (Oct 04 – Styx^’s Deck)
SPELLS | LANDS | SIDEBOARD |
3 Snapcaster Mage 2 Phantasmal Image 2 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Sun Titan 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One 2 Unburial Rites 4 Mana Leak 4 Forbidden Alchemy 2 Liliana of the Veil 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Day of Judgement 4 Think Twice 1 Doomblade 2 Dissipate 1 Timely Reinforcements 1 Victim of Night | 2 Seachrome Coast 3 Isolated Chapel 3 Darkslick Shores 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Drowned Catacombs 1 Plains 5 Island 3 Swamp 1 Nephalia Drownyard | 1 Nephalia Drownyard 1 Liliana of the Veil 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Day of Judgment 1 Dissipate 2 Timely Reinforcements 2 Revoke Existence 2 Celestial Purge 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 2 Surgical Extraction 1 Dead Weight |
34 | 26 | 15 |
I used to play a deck similar to this using Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Nameless Inversion. Fun times! Another control deck that is getting a lot of attention and although I don’t think this is an optimal build, it gets the point across. Lilliana or Forbidden Alchemy puts a fatty in the grave and you bring them back with Unburial Rites. Lots of counterspells and removal shore up this reanimator variant which shows a LOT of potential in the new standard. Looks a little slow vs. really aggressive decks, but has all the tools in the SB to combat them once we add Timely Reinforcements and Elesh Norn. This deck IS going to show up a lot, so that’s probably why we’re seeing so many surgical extractions kicking around these days.
Cards to keep an eye on that haven’t hit the big time yet or had fallen out of favor:
Day of Judgment
Glacial Fortress
Drowned Catacombs
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So there is a small sample of some of the newer decks that are making appearances at the top tables. I didn’t include decks like: Birthing Pod, U/W Control or any of the “old” decks, as I wanted to spotlight on some of the newer decks that really focused on Innistrad cards. Those favorites of yesterday are still out there, but these are some of the ones you may not have had a chance to face or build yet.
The format still seems very open, so there is LOTS of opportunity to deckbuild! I’m sad that there were no werewolves, but it looks like humans are at least getting a chance to shine (though not in G/W as I’d anticipated). The day to brew is young, and when night DOES finally come, hopefully you’ll have a few Lycanthrope buddies to watch your back! :P
Cheers,
Carl Szalich
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