Welcome to the last part of my look at Fifth Dawn across the various Constructed formats. On Tuesday we looked at Type One. On Wednesday, we moved forward towards Extended, and yesterday was a peek at Fifth Dawn in a post-Skullclamp Standard. This leaves only one format of note left to explore (sorry guys, not touching 1.5 or 5 Color) – Mirrodin Block Constructed.
Where do we stand in Mirrodin Block Constructed (MD5 – Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn) right now? There are three major contenders pre-Fifth Dawn, and all three made big splashes at Pro Tour Kobe:
PT Kobe Champion Masahiro Kuroda’s Deck: Big Red
Creatures:
4 Arc Slogger
4 Solemn Simulacrum
Spells:
4 Barbed Lightning
4 Damping Matrix
4 Detonate
4 Electrostatic Bolt
4 Fireball
4 Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]
4 Shrapnel Blast
Lands:
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
16 Mountain
Sideboard
4 Echoing Ruin
3 Furnace Dragon
4 Molten Rain
4 Talisman of Impulse
4 Talisman of Indulgence
PT Kobe Finalist Gabriel Nassif Deck: Twelvepost
Creatures:
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Duplicant
1 Leonin Abunas
1 Platinum Angel
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Viridian Shaman
Spells:
2 Mindslaver
4 Oblivion Stone
4 Oxidize
4 Reap and Sow
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Talisman of Unity
4 Tooth and Nail
Lands:
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Cloudpost
16 Forest
3 Stalking Stones
Sideboard:
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Duplicant
1 Mindslaver
1 Platinum Angel
4 Pulse of the Tangle
4 Tel-Jilad Chosen
PT Kobe Semi-Finalist Jelger Wiegersma’s deck: Raffinity
Creatures:
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
3 Myr Retriever
3 Ornithopter
Spells:
4 Aether Vial
2 Chromatic Sphere
4 Skullclamp
1 Talisman of Dominance
4 Thoughtcast
Lands:
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Glimmervoid
2 Great Furnace
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
Sideboard:
4 Electrostatic Bolt
1 Furnace Dragon
3 Genesis Chamber
2 Glimmervoid
1 Great Furnace
1 Myr Retriever
3 Terror
And that’s that. There were no other decks that performed well in Kobe, and none have really emerged since then to challenge these three. There have been tweaks to these decks (Big Red runs Talismen main deck, Twelvepost has adjusted to have better game against Big Red), but the essential frameworks of these decks have been the same. This leaves only three questions to ask:
1) Does Fifth Dawn facilitate any new decks in the environment?
2) How do cards in Fifth Dawn help the current three viable decks?
3) Will Skullclamp be banned in block?
Let’s answer these last in, first out!
#3: Will Skullclamp be banned in block?
At this point, it’s virtually inevitable that Skullclamp will be banned in Standard. Will it also get das booten in Mirrodin Block Constructed? It’s hard to say – even though there is a much smaller pool of cards in MB5, there is also a much higher concentration of main deck artifact hate due to the huge quantity of artifacts that are played in these sets. Whereas main decking Detonate, Oxidizes, Shatters, and their ilk might be suicide in Standard when facing Goblins or U/W control, the high concentration of artifacts available in the MD5 card pool makes these cards a much more even proposition. The main-deck Skullclamp hate becomes useful against several other decks, which keeps Skullclamp a little more honest in Block. Does this make Skullclamp any less broken? Perhaps not, but it is (and has been) noticeably reigned under control compared to the rampant Clampery currently distorting all of Standard.
With all that said, the only current deck that a Skullclamp ban would effect would be Raffinity. Even if the Clamp were banned, Affinity would be a tier 1.5 deck – it can still get insane Frogmite/Myr Enforcer/Myr Enforcer/Disciple/Ravager turn 4 kills – Skullclamp is the catalyst which keeps the deck that much more consistent. I’d give about even odds for Skullclamp being banned in block, with Affinity decks moving more towards aggro than combo should it get the axe.
#2: How do cards in Fifth Dawn help the current three viable decks?
There are several cards which fit straight into the three existing deck archetypes for MD5 Block Constructed. They are either main deck or sideboard cards – with the sideboard cards being usable by more than one deck in some instances.
Sideboard cards
Granulate: Acting as an early Furnace Dragon, Granulate will find a place in the sideboard of most Big Red decks. It’s not a good decision to use this main deck under the current metagame, since it does virtually nothing against Twelvepost and Big Red itself.
Tel-Jilad Justice: Twelvepost gets a much needed artifact destruction spell to replace Naturalize from Standard. This will compliment Oxidize nicely, allowing the Twelvepost player to set up his/her draws nicely.
Cosmic Larva: This guy is an amazingly large body, and one that will potentially be the game winner in a Big Red on Big Red mirror match.
Relic Barrier: Good board both for tapping down Raffinity creatures/lands and for stalling Darksteel Colossus against Twelvepost.
Main-deck Cards
Raffinity: Affinity didn’t get a whole lot of new tools in block. Krark-Clan Ironworks will see a ton of play, but more of as its own deck than as a tool in pure Raffinity (more on this later). Possible inclusions are Condescend (to take the place of where Mana Leak would be in Standard), Engineered Explosives (for the mirror), Moriok Rigger (as Disciples #5-8), Night’s Whisper (as Thoughtcasts #5-8), and Steelshaper’s Gift (if Skullclamp does not get 86’d).
Twelvepost: Several decent creatures emerge in Fifth Dawn for Twelvepost, including the Bringers of the Five Dawn, Tornado Elemental (to deal with Furnace Dragon and Furnace Whelp), Magma Giant (for the Raffinity Match), and the board-clearing combo of Mephidross Vampire and Triskelion. Eternal Witness might have a place in the deck as a chump blocker/artifact destruction recursion spell.
Big Red: Magma Jet might make the cut into the main deck, should Scry prove valuable. Furnace Whelp seems like a possible inclusion as an additional flying threat, and Guardian Idol seems like a very good replacement for the Talisman slots currently in the deck. Will this deck run Razormane Masticore to compliment Arc-Slogger?
#1: Does Fifth Dawn facilitate any new decks in the environment?
Yes, yes, and yes! There are several new deck types that will be playable:
MBC: With the addition of Devour in Shadow, Plunge Into Darkness, Lose Hope, Shattered Dreams, and Night’s Whisper, Mono-Black control might finally be viable in Block – the complimentary cards of Promise of Power, Extraplanar Lens, Terror, Consume Spirit, and Barter in Blood are already there – with the possible addition of Death Cloud as well. Grid Monitor might provide the muscle for this otherwise creatureless deck, as it did for a short time in Standard.
Domain: With the addition of all the sunburst cards in the environment, there are sure to be domain decks popping about – and why not with Sylvan Scrying, Wayfarer’s Bauble, Journey to Discovery, and Joiner Adept in the mix. Clearwater Goblet, Pentad Prism, Etched Oracle (which acts as Allied Strategies for the same mana cost – 4+1), Bringers of the Five Dawn, Infused Arrows, and Ion Storm possibly in the mix.
Relentless Rats.dec: Will twenty-eight Rats + disruption be enough for the Rat deck to win? Definitely worth using this deck as a goldfish test, if for nothing else.
Krark-Clan Ironworks.dec: Just like in Standard, the Ironworks will be abused for third to fifth turn kills. With artifact lands, artifact acceleration (Talismen, Pentad Prism, and others) and more artifacts than you can shake a stick at, this deck can generate twenty+ mana by the third turn. Add in Myr Retrievers + Disciple of the Vault for infinite recursion. Skullclamp will potentially fit into a creature-based version of this deck. Fireball, Roar of Reclamation, and/or Goblin Cannon will serve as potential kill cards in a non-creature combo version.
Thanks to everyone for reading my reviews! As always, I hope they have given you food for thought in whatever format you play, and good luck deck building in whatever format you favor most!