Probably the most fun I have playing Magic is when I’m building new decks with new cards in new formats. A new set being released is better than Christmas — but even more fun is the first set of each new block! That means old cards are rotating, which generally completely reshapes the format. When Jace, the Mind Sculptor and the rest of Worldwake hit, it changed things quite a bit, but it was still an evolution of the old format. Vengevine and the rest of Rise of the Eldrazi turned Standard on its head — but again, that was an evolution of the existing format. Keep in mind that I appreciate those times, too; it’s just that it’s an especially enjoyable time of year when the rotation happens.
For instance, no more just sitting back on Path to Exile and Oblivion Ring for removal. Should we use Condemn? Journey to Nowhere? Some new Scars card? More Day of Judgments? All is Dust? Into the Roil? Less removal? As you can see, countless new questions sprout up, where once we had universally accepted card choices.
It’s not even just single cards leaving — it’s the combined effect of a radical reshaping of the landscape. For instance, a world without Bloodbraid Elf, Sprouting Thrinax, Putrid Leech, Maelstrom Pulse, Terminate, Bituminous Blast, or Savage Lands is a very different world from last week. Not only are you not playing against Jund, but neither is anyone else, which means strategies that Jund preyed on are more likely to come to the surface.
When the new Extended was announced, most players started by working on old Standard decks, as only a relatively small number of old Extended decks survived the rotation. New Standard formats are often like that; players will examine the old Block decks from the previous year, since only a few of the old Standard decks will survive.
Building decks for the new format isn’t just about updating old lists, though. In fact, generally we find that — like in the new Extended — most of the updates people try don’t work. The purpose of those updates is actually to explore the format—to find out what is possible. You can’t be sure how far everyone else will get into the format, so if you just start from the ground and work your way up. You can see what the natural evolution will be, and that is a path other players will take. As great as it’s to come up with some cool new idea, it’s even better to figure out all of the ideas that others will have — and put yourself exactly one step ahead of them.
With Scars of Mirrodin only half-spoiled, it’s somewhat ambitious to start talking about building new decks. But a lot of these cards put ideas in my head, and trying them out early can be helpful for developing an understanding a little earlier than the crowd. Another benefit is that when you start building early, you inevitably find holes in your decks where if there were only a card that did X or a card that could stop Y, it would improve your
deck tremendously. This can give you the clues as to what to look for in the new set as more cards are revealed. It can also indicate that if you
do
n’
t
find what you’re looking for, other key cards in the deck may be underappreciated until those holes are filled.
At the end of the day, though, building decks like this isn’t the most time-efficient way to find the deck to play. You’re likely to make a lot of decks that are either invalidated by some newly-revealed card or the format turning in an unexpected direction. The real benefit to this exercise — aside from your gaining familiarity with the cards and synergies — is improving as a deckbuilder.
When you build decks with only a limited number of known cards, it’s like you’re building for a different format from both the one available two weeks ago, and from what
will
be available in two weeks. This time-sensitive restriction actually breeds a lot of creativity, and often gives you more than twice as many formats to work on. Players with a shortage of time probably won’t get the most bang for their buck this way — but players with time to invest who want to perfect the deckbuilding craft would do well to spend some time in this way.
Today, I’m just going to start brewing. (I try to abusing the word “brewing,” as sometimes it gets a little tiring to hear about every single brew session that is allegedly taking place every time someone decides upon their fifteenth sideboard card.) I’m not trying to review every spoiler under the sun — at least not
this
week. Today’s focus is on new decks and the thought process behind their creation. Thanks, as always, to MTGSalvation.com for compiling the various spoilers.
The first card that jumps out at me from Scars of Mirrodin is Koth of the Hammer. Koth looks like the most powerful card in the set to me. (Yeah, surprise, surprise, a good planeswalker…) Many players have shied away from him because they pigeonhole him as a good card for a so-called “bad” deck — namely, Mono-Red Aggro. Well, outside of the fact that Mono-Red Aggro is a bad deck in much the same way White Weenie supposedly is, I’d suggest that one remember what Standard was like before Jace, the Mind Sculptor. There really weren’t that many blue decks. Jace ended up spawning dozens of decks that wouldn’t have existed without him.
Koth is the same way, I suspect. Will he go straight into Mono-Red Aggro (a.k.a. Red Deck Wins or RDW) as a four-of? Sure, as he’s much like a red Vengevine that’s even deadlier if left unchecked. Still, there are plenty of other ways to abuse Koth. If you want a RDW list, start by comparing recent Mono-Red lists with Block lists. Make sure you use four Koths and that you remember that both Ball Lightning and Earthquake are rotating out (as it’s finally time to bid
adieu
to Magic 2010). Obviously, Hellspark Elemental and Hell’s Thunder are rotating out as well, so there are plenty of slots up for grabs.
While everyone will put Koth in their RDW lists, I’m interested in seeing what other sorts of new decks will spring up around Koth. For instance, what about a big-mana red deck?
Creatures (16)
- 3 Pilgrim's Eye
- 4 Kargan Dragonlord
- 1 Tuktuk the Explorer
- 1 Hoarding Dragon
- 3 Inferno Titan
- 3 Wurmcoil Engine
- 1 Molten-Tail Masticore
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (24)
Spells (16)
This build attempts to exploit Koth’s second ability with a high number of potentially game-breaking ways to spend boatloads of red mana. Rather than racing like RDW does, this deck just tries to play powerful, proactive threats that can chain together in ways that make effective use of mana.
Many players will immediately jump at the seemingly bizarre mix of singletons. Why play so many singletons if there’s no library manipulation? Simple! This list is designed for playtesting, not a specific tournament. The key cards for operating the deck are played as four-ofs (Bolts, Bursts, Dragonlords, Koths, Titans, Wurmcoils, and Everflowing Chalice). The rest of the deck is up for debate. Playing a large variety of cards has the benefit of allowing us to see the most possible interactions while testing. There’s a good chance many of these cards will be cut from the deck during testing, but playing them all gives us a chance to see each of them in action. In general, I don’t like to cut cards like these until I’ve had a chance to play them. Plus, at the end of the day, all of us — Gabriel Nassif, Luis Scott-Vargas, Ben Rubin, Michael Jacob — are addicted to mising. It’s a sickness.
Remember, it’s not about making the best first draft — it’s about making the best final version. We would gladly play ten suboptimal builds if it meant that our final version for the tournament was one card better. To be fair, just because we’re open to trying a lot of miser cards, we still ought to have purpose behind them.
When I first sketched this list, I included four Siege-Gang Commanders — but to my dismay, I realized that M10 was rotating. This left a hole in the five-mana spot. I didn’t find any five-drops that I loved, but I did find a few that seemed potentially interesting.
First, Chandra Nalaar is a much-maligned planeswalker — but she’s is actually quite respectable at combating fatties. Given this deck’s weakness to big creatures, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the right play was to bump the Chandras a little.
The Hoarding Dragon is a little wacky and could become another Chandra, but the ability to get a Wurmcoil Engine and protect the fort on turn 5 with the threat of a turn 5 Wurmcoil Engine seems enticing. This is one of those interactions that will really depend on the format. If everyone is actually destroying stuff, this is a pretty sweet line. If people are exiling stuff, well… not so much.
The Molten-Tail Masticore is another super-good card that’s a Siege-Gang Commander replacement. It will add an extremely deadly new dimension to Fauna Shaman decks. You can discard your Vengevines, but exile the Squadron Hawks that you’re discarding to Fauna Shaman each turn. The card is pretty amazing as long as you have creatures to take advantage of its ability. A 4/4 regenerator that can Flame Javelin at will? Yeah — don’t forget it hits players, too! Are people really sleeping on this guy? As good as the Molten-Tail Masticore is, he isn’t at his best here — even if he
is
a super-sick answer to Kor Firewalker…
Tuk-tuk, Staggershock, and Chain Reaction are all attempts to buy yourself time to start dropping bombs, all of which will gain or lose value depending on the sort of creatures others are playing. Pilgrim’s Eye is a reasonable way to get a little added value out of your lands. You don’t have much going on on turn 3, anyway, so a Pilgrim’s Eye can do it work as a Mountain while giving us a random blocker that may even end up protecting Koth.
An interesting question with a deck like this is whether you want more Inferno Titans or Wurmcoil Engines. These two creatures are both absolutely nuts, with plenty of advantages to each. I prefer Wurmcoil Engine, as lifelink is much more appreciated in a deck that normally doesn’t have access to life gain. Additionally, I like the two-token bonus a bit better than the Arc Lightning you get from Inferno Titan when threatened by a removal spell. That said, Inferno Titan’s firebreathing ability is particularly amazing in a deck with Koth (you know, while we are in Magical Christmas Land).
Many players are quick to assume that Koth is exclusively a Mono-Red card, but I’m not so sure. Obviously his second ability drops a lot if you’re in two colors — but his first ability will generally be the ability of choice in many decks. His ultimate drops a bit as well, but there are many players who won’t be able to beat it, anyway. Basically, two-color decks with Koth are possible, especially if it’s an uneven mix slanted towards red.
Switching gears entirely, another card that caught my eye was Argentum Armor. At six to cast and six to equip, it’s expensive for sure. That said, it’s such a powerful end-game strategy that I have to imagine that most Stoneforge Mystic decks will want one in their toolbox. This is the most likely application for the card, but I’m a little greedy. I wonder if we could get even more out of the card — can we make our own Eldrazi Conscription now that Sovereigns of Lost Alara has rotated?
Creatures (29)
- 2 Ornithopter
- 3 Kor Duelist
- 3 Kor Outfitter
- 1 Kor Skyfisher
- 4 Steppe Lynx
- 4 Stoneforge Mystic
- 4 Memnite
- 4 Glint Hawk
- 4 Auriok Edgewright
Lands (22)
Spells (9)
Obviously this list is very crude, but there are some radical ideas here worth exploring. First of all, let’s talk about the nut draw:
Turn 1: Plains, Memnite or Ornithopter
Turn 2: Plains, Stoneforge Mystic for Argentum Armor
Turn 3: Plains, Mox Opal, Stoneforge in the Armor for two mana, then Kor Outfitter and attach the Armor to your Memnite or Ornithopter and get busy!
Obviously, there are a ton of variations on this opening — though the nagging question is whether these nut draws are worth drawing Ornithopters, Moxes you can’t use, and Fresh Volunteers. At least we’re getting added value from our artifacts with the Edgewright, as well as some quick beats (and bodies to put equipment on). The Outfitters are a bit sketchy outside of Blacker Lotus applications, but they can be a nice tempo boost, particularly with Trusty Machete. Remember, they will often work best as three-drops or four-drops.
The Glint Hawk is another sweet way to get paid from all our janky artifacts. The turn 1 “Memnite, Glint Hawk” start is pretty fast, meaning we have plenty of degenerate openings beyond Stoneforge ones (not to mention Steppe-boy). With both Duelists and Edgewrights, we have a very potent double strike subtheme that we can capitalize on using Adventuring Gear. Being able to build our own Voltron means we are less concerned about opposing creatures. Besides, with both Path and Oblivion Ring gone, what removal would we even want to use? Why not just bash through?! (Of course, it’s going to suck when our opponents start dropping Titans, but I suppose that’s why we need fliers.)
The card that I’d first consider adding is Squadron Hawk. That guy is so good — and while we don’t take full advantage of him here, he ensures that we never run out of creatures to put our gear on.
How about a first look at what is sure to be one of the pillars of the format?
Creatures (4)
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (26)
Spells (24)
Once again, we use the style of deckbuilding that starts with the basics (Jace, Preordain, Mana Leak) but with lots of singletons until we know more about the format. Here, we even have Preordain to give added value to the miser cards — since the more library manipulation you have, the more marginal utility you get from the one-of, late-game cards.
Sunblast Angel might just be so good in the format that you want more… but given its highly specific conditions for being good and people’s ability to play around it, I think that it’s likely the archetypal miser’s card. When you draw it, it’s totally epic — but if you play a bunch of them, people can afford to play around it. As it stands, opponents who try to play around it will likely just be wasting damage.
Wurmcoil Engine is super-powerful — certainly in the same league as the M11 Titans. Its high cost is a bit of a deterrent, but its ability to protect itself from removal (as well as its remarkable interaction with All Is Dust) make me give it the nod.
Elspeth Tirel is the type of card that might be so good we want a bunch, but I kind of suspect that with so many incredible five- and six-drops in white, we’re going to be hard-pressed to fit many. Maybe it’s just better than Gideon Jura here — I really don’t know. I do know that more would make Wall of Omens a bit more attractive, though maybe I’m crazy for not playing those.
Condemn is my replacement for Path, which I assume will be a popular swap. It’s great against aggressive strategies… But every time an opponent plays a Fauna Shaman or some other deadly non-attacker (Hedron Crab?), we will be in a bad way. Still, it’s extremely mana-efficient — and the ability to beat Vengevine in this new world of no Relic of Progenitus, no Path, no Oblivion Ring, and no Bant Charm is much appreciated.
Oblivion Ring is another important loss, but Ratchet Bomb is a very exciting to addition. It helps against fast aggro starts, provides answers to planeswalkers, and gives us more defense against equipment. Powder Keg was great, and Ratchet Bomb is a fair bit better with its ability to hit all non-land permanents. In addition, I’m set up to use All Is Dust instead of Day of Judgment, which gives us added protection against enchantments and planeswalkers but a greater weakness to artifact creatures.
I’d like to note that the synergy between All Is Dust, Wurmcoil Engine, Everflowing Chalice, and Ratchet Bomb is very exciting. Personally, I’d love to have a Ratchet Bomb sitting in play with an All is Dust to help stay a little ahead of the opponent’s redevelopment. Additionally, the curve of Wurmcoil Engine into All is Dust is a game-winning plan all its own.
Into the Roil will be even more important in the Scars of Mirrodin world, as answers to artifacts are likely to be important (as are answers to planeswalkers like Koth). I was super-excited to be rocking good old Mind Spring instead of Jace’s Ingenuity — but alas! M10 rotation strikes again!
I love Jace’s Ingenuity, to be sure, but I see so many deckbuilders using it wrong. Mind Spring is a more powerful card if you’re not on the dedicated instant-speed strategy. The addition of more expensive, sorcery-speed cards is pushing us even more and more back towards a tap-out style of U/W. That said, Mind Spring isn’t going to be legal, so we make do with Jace’s Ingenuity.
The mana base is no surprise, though I’d like to share a word about the new Scars Lands. I have only used two Seachrome Coasts here, as U/W doesn’t get that much value out of the extra mana on turn 1 and doesn’t want its lands entering the battlefield tapped on turn 4, 5, and 6. Still, in other decks, generally aggro, the new Scars lands will be the best dual-lands they have. This is obviously very true in green decks, but will also carry over to any sort of aggressive deck. The Scars lands are totally awesome and will see plenty of play in Extended, not just Standard. Having dual lands untapped on turn 1 is such an unreal asset to aggro — it can’t be stressed enough. It’s also nice to see Wizards printing more dual lands that actually help aggro, instead of always favoring control and midrange.
This is far from the only way to build U/W, but I thought it more interesting to go in a different direction to showcase what all is possible with some of our new tools. That is really the goal here: learn to use our new weapons. Part of building in these uncertain times of less than fully known spoilers is exploring deck fragments utilizing new cards. For instance, Dredgevine (a deck used by David Ochoa and Brad Nelson at US Nationals this year) is a potentially powerful shell that loses little (Extractor Demon, Noble Hierarch), but gains a variety of potential new directions to go.
I don’t have a list yet — but what about a metalcraft deck with Kuldotha Phoenix, Vengevine, Molten-Tail Masticore, Renegade Doppelganger, Riddlesmith, Trinket Mage, Memnite, Grindclock, Hedron Crab, Fauna Shaman, Birds of Paradise, as well as Trinket Mage targets (like the super-sexy Chimeric Mass) and maybe artifact creatures and possibly more Looter action?
Kuldotha Phoenix gives you access to eight Vengevine effects,
if
you can actually achieve metalcraft. Its flying really helps make up for losing Extractor Demon.
Grindclock is
so
hot as a dredge enabler. It’s one-third of your metalcraft, but it also provides a difficult-to-kill way to keep your graveyard growing turn after turn. I’m not sure yet how far to wind the clock before starting to Grindclock, but I’m guessing it might be as few as two or three cards. An important part of the Grindclock is a single Voltaic Key in your deck to find with Trinket Mage. The interaction between Voltaic Key and Grindclock is quite strong — yes, more than just twice as good. For instance:
Turn 2 Grindclock (at one)
Turn 3 Trinket Mage for Voltaic Key (Grindclock at two)
Turn 4 Voltaic Key (Grindclock at three, putting the top three cards of your library into your graveyard)
Turn 5 Put the top six cards of your library into your graveyard.
Obviously this opening leaves plenty of places to be making other plays, but having access to the Key gives your Grindclocks
so
much more value. Additionally, there are other applications, such as Molten-Tail Masticore gaining vigilance. Washing mana through a Mox Opal isn’t likely to be very fruitful, but it does make casting the Phoenix more realistic.
Memnite is especially good here, as it makes your Trinket Mage a very solid Vengevine enabler. Also, you’re going to be trying to win most games by just bashing hard and early, overwhelming opponents. As such, randomly having access to some 1/1s on the first turn could be kind of sick. You’re unlikely to trigger Vengevine turn 1… but Memnites certainly make triggering the turn 2 Vengevines a lot more common. On top of that, they work very well with Riddlesmith, especially when you discard a Phoenix that you can get back on your next upkeep, ready to attack.
Another deck I would love to explore is one with infect, as Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon and Putrefax look especially sweet on account of my favorite keyword: haste. If you have reliable ways to give your opponent at least one poison counter, such as Ichor Rats, you’re talking about a potentially explosive way to permanently punish your opponent.
I’m not sure how important random early infect donks will be, since we are about one sweet infect creature away from just getting there with fatties. That said, if there is enough decent proliferate action, maybe nickel-and-diming will work… but I kind of suspect that style of infect will be very
much the Vampires of this autumn — likely to draw the attention of many, only to find a joke where they expect to find
a good deck
.
I’ll leave you with one more deck fragment that is probably too raw to do much on its own, but does a decent job of demonstrating the hidden power of a sick new sleeper: Grand Architect.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Cosi's Trickster
- 4 Lodestone Golem
- 4 Coralhelm Commander
- 4 Wurmcoil Engine
- 4 Grand Architect
- 2 Molten-Tail Masticore
- 3 Riddlesmith
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (22)
Spells (10)
As you can see, this deck is quite crude, but the idea is turn 3 Grand Architect, which you immediately tap (and your two-drop) to cast a Lodestone Golem or Molten-Tail Masticore. Once in a while you might even get the actual nut draw of Cosi’s Trickster on top of this, giving you access to a turn 3 Wurmcoil Engine.
It should be remembered that you can use Grand Architect mana to pay for the Masticore’s activation. On top of the ability to produce massive amounts of mana, Grand Architect is also a lord to help your pseudo-Merfolk strategy.
Everflowing Chalice may be a little out of place — but with so many fours, I wanted to have added ways to start dropping them turn 3. Grand Architect is a very powerful card, but one that seems incredibly difficult to use optimally, since it wants you to play blue creatures to pump and get mana from, but also expensive artifacts to use that mana on.
There are
so
many cards to explore in the post-Scars world of Standard, as this set is already shaping up to be a killer. One final twist that makes this set a little different from the past few is that the types of cards we are seeing are a little, well,
dangerous.
So far, so good… but there’s no question Wizards is playing with fire with this set. It would only take the smallest slip-up on their part to allow for the possibility of another broken Artifact Winter.
I have a lot of respect for Magic’s R&D, but for serious — if they slipped up, we
are
going to find it!
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”