Last week, I went over some variant builds for the top decks in the format that have qualified people around the world for their Nationals. Going through the deck database, I also ran across some distinctly”rogue” builds that qualified some enterprising players who dared to turn their back on netdecking and go their own way. I thought I’d present the ones that I found particularly fun.
Black Beatdown by Olivier Genero
Regionals ile-de-france, France – 5th – 8th Place
Spells:
1 Skeletal Scrying
3 Graveborn Muse
3 Shambling Swarm
3 Laquatus Champion
4 Nantuko Shade
1 Visara The Dreadful
3 Death Pulse
4 Mutilate
3 Chainer’s Edict
3 Innocent Blood
4 Smother
4 Corrupt
Lands:
23 Swamp
2 Cabal Coffer
Sideboard:
3 Withered Wretch
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Mind Sludge
2 Engineered Plague
4 Duress
2 Cabal Therapy
I’ve long kicked around the idea of a creature-based Coffers Black deck, but have just never had the time to fully explore the idea. Olivier took the time, and apparently did so with zero fear of Compost. He’s got enough card advantage engines to apparently get him over the top, and enough creature control to just dominate any creature-based strategy. Between Mutilates and Shambling Swarm, his Bloods and Edicts are nearly pinpoint removal that can take down Phantom Centaurs. He pretty much rolled the dice that he’d mostly face creature decks all day – and that gamble seemed to have paid off. Bravo!
Sligh by Pablo Olejavetzky
Regionals Buenos Aires, Argentina – 3rd – 4th Place
4 Blistering Firecat
2 Goblin Goon
4 Goblin Piledriver
3 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Sledder
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Sparksmith
1 Final Fortune
4 Shock
3 Violent Eruption
4 Volcanic Hammer
2 Barbarian Ring
18 Mountain
Sideboard:
1 Fledgling Dragon
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Pillage
4 Stone Rain
4 Threaten
1 Violent Eruption
While Sligh (or, as is more appropriate these days, Goblins) is not exactly rogue, I think he’s got some elements here that are certainly worth mentioning. The appearance of the Prospectors and Goons can’t help but suggest some influence from PT: Venice,”The Fattie-est Tour Ever.” Final Fortune is a nice nod from Sligh builds past and is definitely a”Duh!” inclusion that I feel embarrassed to not have considered lately. With Sligh running into trouble against the big green creatures that stomp around in the Tier 1 circles of Type 2, I can’t help but wonder if something like this, with a few more fatties like the Goon or even a few Fledgling Dragons main, would be worth exploring.
B/W Clerics by Luciano E. Ochoa
Regionals Maracibo, Venezuela – 5th – 8th Place
Creatures:
4 Benevolent Bodyguard
4 Blood Celebrant
3 Cabal Archon
4 Dark Supplicant
3 Devoted Caretaker
3 Nova Cleric
4 Rotlung Reanimator
1 Scion of Darkness
Spells:
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Duress
4 Oversold Cemetery
4 Smother
Lands:
2 City of Brass
3 Plains
11 Swamp
4 Tainted Field
Sideboard:
2 Circle of Protection: Green
2 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Disenchant
1 Duress
3 Rancid Earth
4 Withered Wretch
Luciano gives us a great idea of what a B/W should look like, with tons of cheap clerics ripe for sacrificing. Blood Celebrant certainly looked a little – well, bad – to me, but it can certainly help smooth out the mana and the Archon can recoup some lost life. Since this deck seems to rely to heavily on drawing and activating a Supplicant, I can’t help but want to find a way to add some card drawing or tutoring – but I guess I ought to play it first before I tinker around with it.
Dwarven Replenish by Shawn Chang
Regionals Buenos Aires, Argentina – 3rd – 4th Place
4 Balthor the Defiled
3 Laquatus’s Champion
2 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Visara the Dreadful
4 Buried Alive
3 Chainer’s Edict
4 Diabolic Tutor
4 Duress
1 Haunting Echoes
1 Mind Sludge
4 Mutilate
4 Smother
3 Cabal Coffers
22 Swamp
Sideboard:
1 Coffin Purge
3 Innocent Blood
1 Last Rites
2 Persecute
4 Rancid Earth
1 Skeletal Scrying
3 Withered Wretch
Boy, black has all sorts of interesting things it can do outside of Monolithic Control. Shawn boldly incorporates a Buried Alive/Balthor/Champion combo into an MBC skeleton, and it scores him a spot at his Nationals. Nice work!
Living Slide by Alejandro Ganduglia
Regionals Buenos Aires, Argentina – 2nd Place
3 Exalted Angel
3 Krosan Tusker
4 Astral Slide
2 Bearscape
3 Lay Waste
4 Lightning Rift
3 Living Wish
4 Renewed Faith
4 Slice and Dice
3 Wrath of God
4 Forest
4 Forgotten Cave
2 Grand Coliseum
4 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe
4 Tranquil Thicket
Sideboard:
1 Auramancer
3 Boil
1 Cloudchaser Eagle
3 Compost
1 Gigapede
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Pardic Arsonist
2 Ray of Revelation
1 Teroh’s Faithful
1 Wrath of God
The first thing that really stood out for me when looking at this deck list were the Bearscapes. Whoa – the perfect card for a three-color Slide deck! Not only is there plenty of fodder to feed Da Bears with, it also patches up one glaring weakness this deck had: Namely, Haunting Echoes. Living Wish is also an interesting touch, allowing Alejandro to move some of his specialty creatures to the board for access if needed. I think this is a very clever direction to take Slide.
BW Slide/Cemetery by Roger Miller
Regionals Buenos Aires, Argentina – 5th – 8th Place
2 Braids, Cabal Minion
4 Disciple of Grace
3 Disciple of Malice
4 Exalted Angel
4 Undead Gladiator
4 Astral Slide
4 Duress
3 Oversold Cemetery
3 Smother
3 Wrath of God
4 Barren Moor
9 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe
9 Swamp
Sideboard:
1 Auramancer
3 Aven Cloudchaser
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Faceless Butcher
1 Haunting Echoes
3 Teroh’s Faithful
Roger has an interesting spin on B/W Astral Slide – why not fuel your Slide with Cemetery recursion? Of course you need more than just the Gladiator, so he presses seven Disciples into service, which are perfect as cheap creature cyclers. Trying to break Braids’ symmetry with Astral Slide seems a bit unwieldy, but I think swapping in two Faceless Butchers for the Braids, work in a few Mesmeric Fiends, and you’ve got something going here (and it’s probably a lot like The Ralphie Treatment, ha ha!).
I’ll finish things off here with a random thought for those of you bold enough to try and run MBC for Regionals – wouldn’t Tainted Aether be completely insane in a creature-heavy environment? Just think about it.
“So, Smith,” you may be saying,”What the hell are you running for Regionals?” Would you believe I still don’t know? But right now I’m leaning towards either Beasts or U/G Madness, like the netdecker that I’ve become.