With the Extended season near to wrapping up, my love affair with the Faerie Wizards continues, as does the madcap plan of racing around from qualifier to qualifier. While there were zero events I could attend last weekend, there are two I can try this weekend if I’m willing to brave the drive from New Jersey to far-upstate New York between the two, and a metagame that is likely shifting thanks to a Grand Prix win for Team Woolly Thoctar. But rather than chase old information, I thought it would be more interesting if I were to take a look at Shards Block Constructed, as it is worth grasping at the fundamentals of that format before Alara Reborn rotates in to complete the Block format, and if I am trying to play Road Warrior to chase a flight to Honolulu, this is the sort of thing that should be interesting to me.
For starters, the decklists you’re going to see here are obtained by way of Tony Knibbe, and his Shards Block Constructed articles. Block O’ Shard X excellently compiled recent MTGO results, exactly the thing I myself was looking for, and serves as a good primer for the format as well as providing some history as you read his prior articles and track everything backwards in time.
Shards Block Constructed is by all appearances a pretty slow format. Barring a few odd outliers, such as an attempt at a Red aggro deck, I find it reminds me the most of Onslaught Block Constructed (just without the Goblins). Like Onslaught Block, Shards Block is a format with big-mana spells and potent creatures, but very little countermagic to restrain those huge spells. Unlike Onslaught Block, however, we have a new wrinkle: Planeswalkers. A quick look at Shards Block Constructed will show you decks that are casting ten or so Planeswalkers and calling themselves an aggressive strategy. Perhaps simply due to the fact that the creature-control elements can be so powerful, it is these non-creature permanents that are expected to do the heavy lifting in the format, where Elspeth and Ajani Vengeant are the curve-toppers.
Again thanks to Tony Knibbe and his Block O’ Shard X article for providing MTGO decklists, we have some good examples of strategies that have been battle-tested and thus are reasonably developed metagame tweaks. One such was a Naya deck by bolov0 which won Event 238445:
6 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
4 Mountain
3 Naya Panorama
6 Plains
3 Battlegrace Angel
3 Cliffrunner Behemoth
3 Druid of the Anima
1 Knotvine Mystic
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Ajani Vengeant
1 Banefire
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Martial Coup
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
2 Sarkhan Vol
Sideboard:
4 Caldera Hellion
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Filigree Fracture
1 Martial Coup
3 Naturalize
3 Realm Razer
1 Sarkhan Vol
Now, “battle-tested” this deck may be, but “ideal” is not likely to follow directly from that. Card availability is a reasonable issue to face on MTGO, especially when you are packing a double-digit number of Shards Block planeswalkers between main-deck and sideboard… at ten or more tickets each, depending on how well you shop, these Mythic Rares are pretty format-defining and can certainly eat a chunk of change. But we can observe some of the keys of the format here as we look at the deck, after changing it a little to streamline it:
9 Forest
4 Plains
4 Jungle Shrine
4 Naya Panorama
3 Mountain
2 Battlegrace Angel
4 Cliffrunner Behemoth
4 Druid of the Anima
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
2 Sarkhan Vol
Most of this is streamlining, counting on the pinpoint removal spells and Planeswalkers to handle everything Martial Coup might work for, and adding another land to the mana-base overall since it is so focused on four-drops. Meanwhile, I’ve also re-jiggered the lands to produce turn 1 Green more reliably, which also increases the reliability of turn 2 Green as well, both of which power out the creature accelerants that cast turn 3 Planeswalkers. By hook or by crook, we’re looking at accelerating out Planeswalkers, using them and some creatures to pressure the opponent, and that’s the strategy.
A comparable deck posted by Patrick Chapin and originating with Manuel Bucher lost the Oblivion Ring aspect to beat down a bit harder with Wild Nacatl in the mix, where bolov0’s deck is significantly more controlling and thus fits a more “mid-range” designation rather than a dedicated aggressive strategy. That, interestingly enough, kept its Banefires and increased them, as it is dedicated creature removal at a reasonable price (in Invasion Block, we were casting Ghitu Fire and liking it, after all!) that can also “O-ring” a Planeswalker, or go to the face uncounterably to seal the deal.
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Feral Hydra
4 Druid of Anima
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Ranger of Eos
3 Path to Exile
3 Banefire
4 Elspeth, Knight-errant
4 Ajani Vengeant
2 Sarkhan Vol
3 Mountain
3 Plains
9 Forest
4 Naya Panorama
4 Jungle Shrine
Key to note are the absence of Bolov0’s Battlegrace Angels and Cliffrunner Behemoths, where instead Patrick and Manuel are playing a Ranger of Eos package for 3/3s and the occasional Feral Hydra. Manuel’s list also skimps on a Path to Exile, shaving the fourth copy, but if it’s good enough for Naya in Extended, it’s good enough for Naya in Block Constructed I’m sure, especially in a world where you have to deal with things like Battlegrace Angels and Rhox War Monks on a somewhat regular basis. The similarities are plentiful and worth noting, and the strategy was the clear front-runner before the release of Conflux so it is not exactly “secret information.”
Compare and contrast this to another Red-Green-White creation, which Tony has taken to calling “Martial Law” due to its focus on Martial Coup and the controlling role. This deck was played to a third-place finish in Event 238442, one day prior to Bolov0’s win, by Yunhao_Wu_CHN:
4 Exotic Orchard
2 Forest
4 Jungle Shrine
3 Mountain
4 Naya Panorama
4 Plains
2 Savage Lands
1 Seaside Citadel
3 Battlegrace Angel
4 Druid of the Anima
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Ajani Vengeant
4 Celestial Purge
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Martial Coup
4 Naya Charm
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Sarkhan Vol
Sideboard:
4 Magma Spray
4 Naturalize
2 Realm Razer
1 Sarkhan Vol
4 Volcanic Fallout
This is what Naya looks like when taken to the logical extreme of a control deck rather than an aggro deck, though I find its intentional exclusion of Path to Exile unusual and perhaps eccentric. The downsides to Path to Exile are at least somewhat mitigated by the possibility of matching your opponent’s accelerated progress with Knight of the White Orchid, a creature whose value I would expect to go up over time specifically because of that interaction, in addition to the value inherent in creatures that can effectively reduce the loyalty of a Planeswalker. However, in a format so clearly warped by cards like Ajani Vengeant and Woolly Thoctar, it is not exactly surprising to see people gaming with Celestial Purges main; if anything it is the lack of them in Bolov0’s sideboard that I find surprising. Red, Green and White are the clear best colors at present and there are a variety of ‘speeds’ at which you can build such a deck, from aggressive to controlling… and there is also the Five-Color Control method of play whatever you want and let the mana-base sort it out, which uses all of these cards and whatever else it feels like to control the board and break Planeswalker parity in order to gain an advantage.
For a more dedicated control deck, there’s Five-Color. Migacz won Event 238448 in mid-March playing the following:
4 Arcane Sanctum
3 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Exotic Orchard
3 Island
1 Mountain
3 Plains
2 Rupture Spire
3 Savage Lands
2 Swamp
4 Broodmate Dragon
2 Wall of Reverence
3 Ajani Vengeant
1 Celestial Purge
3 Courier’s Capsule
2 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Esper Charm
4 Martial Coup
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile
2 Traumatic Visions
Sideboard:
4 Countersquall
3 Infest
2 Zombie Outlander
2 Filigree Fracture
2 Celestial Purge
1 Wall of Reverence
1 Oblivion Ring
It has a lot of the same features you more or less expect from the Standard version, except that Volcanic Fallout has a much smaller impact on the format so it really is just trading one for one in the early game and gearing up to cast Martial Coup for seven or more, all while playing draw-two spells to come out ahead on land drops or sheer card count as the game wears on. Again we also see a heavy focus on Planeswalkers, though Broodmate Dragon and Martial Coup make for a fine pair of kill conditions in a format where the most efficient kill spell hits pretty much anything, no negotiation, for one mana at instant speed… being two or more distinct creature spells goes a long way to actually being relevant.
Breaking down the format, you’ll see a lot of Planeswalkers around, and an overall slow format despite having Nacatls if you want them… even the colors that can best use a Nacatl can’t necessarily use it profitably, thanks to the inefficient color-fixing and reliance on basic lands that presently dictate the format. Dealing with a Planeswalker is an admirable task, as is dealing with a quality creature of considerable size as you’ll see Rhox War Monk, Battlegrace Angel, and Broodmate Dragon attacking frequently in this format, and efficient creature removal is balanced only by the fact that it is not Planeswalker removal, which is why we are seeing a lot of controlling strategies with Planeswalkers.
To expand into the format, then, I’d want to look at something that seems to not have been explored so far… or at least, not explored in any good form yet. Of the various archetypes floating around on MTGO seeing success, we have three shards represented (Esper, Bant, and Naya) with their own distinct decks, one of which even goes two ways as Naya is surprisingly deep and has both a controlling and an aggressive strategy to front… a Five-Color Play Whatever deck, a Mono White deck, a Red/White deck, a Bant-splash-Red deck (presumably Bant plus Banefire since there’s no list to go with the archetype listing) and of course “Other”, the catchall for whatever managed to sneak in once or twice but still flies under the radar. Not even every Shard is represented, nor has anyone seemingly explored ‘Wedges’ of two allied colors and their shared enemy, such as I want to explore (BRW).
Looking at the essentials of the format, I see:
1. Sarkhan Vol / Ajani Vengeant / Elspeth, Knight Errant: The Planeswalkers are critical to this format for a reason. It’s slow, so their repeating effect is exploitable, and in the case of Ajani and Elspeth, both help slow the game down even more while also potentially attacking opposing Planeswalkers, so they have a certain strategic superiority. They’re non-creature victory conditions if you need them to be, powerful controlling effects in a format where control is dominating rather than aggro, and damnably hard to remove for the most part without relying on the attack phase into a clear board.
2. Path to Exile: Path is a super-efficient removal spell, and thus worthy of warping around to try and make it fit. There are very few creatures it can’t kill: Goblin Outlander, Progenitus, Inkwell Leviathan, Algae Gharial, Deft Duelists, and Empyrial Archangel. Most of these aren’t considered playable in the format, so it basically kills everything.
3. Efficient Monsters: While there is Path to Exile for hyper-efficient removal, after that we start to drop off significantly, with Executioners’ Capsule being the next best “no-nonsense” removal and that one has its limitations. Barring a timely Path, then, you’ll find Bant monsters like Rhox War Monk and Rafiq of the Many can have a mighty impact on the game, Battlegrace Angel can prove outright ridiculous in a way even Exalted Angel really didn’t in her heyday, and Broodmate Dragon is an 8/8 for 6 that comes in two handy portions just in case someone has removal handy… it takes two Paths to make no Dragons, which likely makes it the best kill mechanism in the format. Ethersworn Adjudicator is a potent flier that turns mana into dead creatures, and is yet another powerful controlling monster with an affordable price tag.
4. Mighty Spells: Cruel Ultimatum, Martial Coup… seven mana is a dangerous place to let the opponent reach.
To attack the Big Spells and Planeswalkers department, for example, I’d aim to consider running Countersquall main-deck rather than in the sideboard as Migacz did, as even a fair number of the slots left for “threats” still count as spells, like Elspeth or Martial Coup. At two mana, it’s too efficient to not consider, and in fact I expect its hyper-efficiency might lend some credence to a U/B aggro-control strategy if the format seems stuck in its limited rut of Naya-vs-5c, sort of how “The Solution” solved Invasion Block Constructed. To attack the Big Spells and Planeswalkers I’d also give consideration to Blightning, which attacks the hand meaningfully while also targeting a Planeswalker for downsizing, making it a potential three-for-one waiting to happen.
Because the format is slow and has points that can clearly be attacked, the first place I’m looking at testing for the format is Red/Black/White in a semi-controlling strategy. There are clear benefits to gaming with Goblin Outlander in a format that focuses on White planeswalkers and removal spells, for example, and Blightning is a powerful control card in this format rather than a burn spell with incidental benefits as we’ve been seeing it used in Standard lately. Red/Black/White, presumably with just a dabble in Green mana for Broodmate Dragon, as such seems reasonably affordable at low impact to the deck’s design, gets to play most if not all of the cards I’m interested in playing for power reasons (Ajani, Path to Exile, Broodmate Dragon) as well as cards I’m interested in playing for metagame appropriateness (Blightning, Goblin Outlander). It also can string together powerful cards in its own context, and while rough at present, we have good reason to believe that the all-gold Alara Reborn expansion has at least one delicious gem to go with it, as Terminate is in the “Dead Ahead” Intro Pack for Alara Reborn. The excitement of pairing Terminate and Path to Exile next to each other has me going already, and even if I am getting ahead of myself, that just gives me cause to be excited in wanting to test the following in upcoming weeks:
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Nyxathid
3 Broodmate Dragon
2 Malfegor
4 Path to Exile
4 Blightning
4 Banefire
4 Ajani Vengeant
3 Scepter of Fugue
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
5 Swamp
4 Savage Lands
4 Rupture Spire
2 Jungle Shrine
3 Plains
3 Mountain
3 Esper Panorama
2 Jund Panorama
The mana-base is a rough draft, as is much of the deck actually, as I have reason to think that Scepter + Nyxathid is a reasonably solid means for finishing a game, especially with Blightning in among the support cards and the format looking like a ponderously slow one waiting to be attacked. In the (admittedly few) test-games I actually had to play the deck out in, I liked all of the moving parts and couldn’t find an inherent flaw in the mana-base… but I also wasn’t playing against really stiff competition, so I might as well have been taking test-draws to see if the deck drew steadily and seemed to get into place fast enough, which it did: 26 lands was enough to play my higher-end cards consistently, removal was drawn plentifully thanks to Path and Banefire, and the trick of discard-into-Dragons seemed as if it was drawing in about the right proportions.
To be fair, by the time Alara Reborn has come out we’ll see some interesting new twists to consider, such as more Red/Black or Red/White cards to consider, or possibly new lands to revise the mana-base with. Terminate alongside Path to Exile has to be pretty solid against a format where mighty creatures roam free, given that I already have a significant focus on beating back Planeswalkers between the early drops, my own Planeswalkers, and Blightning + Banefire. It’s part an attempt at a “Solution” style of deck and part an attempt to make an actual good deck with an actual functional strategy; it just happens to be that the strategy it attempts to leverage, with a discard theme to it, is one that seems like it should be good against the format as it currently presents itself and thus worthy of further attention.
And besides… who doesn’t want to cast Malfegor? Have you read that guy? Dragon, yadda yadda, your hand is now full of Cruel Edicts that you immediately cast for free… sure, this is in the Path to Exile format, but it’s also in a shell that has a reasonable chance of making sure one of those is not still in your hand at the time. Admittedly he’s not exactly great against a control deck, but he is pretty solid against an aggressive-minded deck, where he fills the role of being a less expensive, one-sided Martial Coup.
Sean McKeown
s_mckeown @ hotmail.com