One Step Ahead - Brewing Aggro Decks for States

I traveled to the Prerelease this weekend with no intention of playing. Instead, I was looking
forward to battling with some brews utilizing cards from Scars of Mirrodin.

Several decks looked good, but in a new format, I typically build the fastest, most aggressive
decks possible. Only then can I understand what to expect. Once I know which aggro decks are good and what I’ll have to play against, then I can go
about building a control deck.

For starters, I had some Dredgevine brews. I ended last season addicted to Hedron Crab, and even
had success with versions that only had Vengevines to dredge into. Kuldotha Phoenix was very exciting as a reusable Extractor Demon. Trinket Mage is
now the best way to ensure that Vengevine is always coming back, so it didn’t seem hard to imagine a version where you can consistently trigger
metalcraft.

I started with this list, which is an amalgamation of various online lists:

Dredgevine

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (35)

Lands (23)

Spells (2)

1 Brittle Effigy
1 Mox Opal

This list may look a little weird without Birds or Cobras, but I liked the look of it.
Riddlesmith was a huge upgrade to things like Merfolk Looter or Enclave Cryptologist. There were other versions, like those with Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk
Collar. Some chose to abuse Necrotic Ooze in combination with Gigantomancer. I appreciated the no nonsense feel to this deck.

I started by testing against Goblins and WW/Affinity, as those were the decks I was most excited
about. Unfortunately, both of those decks were much faster than Dredgevine. Even if I got lucky and Crabbed or Smithed into a Vengevine on turn 2,
sometimes the aggro decks could race me after chump blocking when necessary.

It seemed that, once again, it was best to turn to a combination of cards that I’m probably well
known for playing: Cunning Sparkmage + Basilisk Collar. Rather than Hedron Crabbing, it seemed like you’d be better off controlling the board.
Already it was becoming apparent that Mirrodin sets tend to speed up formats. Dredgevine was too slow, but a more controlling midrange deck might be
solid.

I’m thinking something like this:

Dredgevine Midrange

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (26)

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (24)

Spells (7)

Sideboard

Obviously this list is very rough. A second Basilisk Collar might be a necessity given how
hostile everyone’s going to be towards artifacts. There’s some really sick stuff you can be doing right now if your artifacts are left unchecked. I
imagine that, right now, everyone’s going to be packing at least four Disenchants in their sideboards.

I liked the creature package a lot. Molten-Tail Masticore might have a place, but it seems that
if you needed something like that, you’d just search up an Inferno Titan anyway. Rootbound Crag seems much better than the Scars duals, at least with as
many fetchlands as I’ve got.

Brittle Effigy is a great answer to things like Baneslayer Angel and Linvala, Keeper of Silence,
but Plummet is a cute answer to those as well. Maybe I’d be better off maxing out on Effigies, though.

I’m not entirely sure if Obstinate Baloth even does anything in this format. The red decks that
I’m seeing are all Destructive Force decks, which Baloth sucks against. Mitotic Slime might be a better sideboard card overall.

Goblins might be a slight misnomer, as this isn’t like the Goblin decks of the past. This is
what I wanted to give a spin:

Goblins

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (20)

Planeswalkers (4)

4 Koth of the Hammer

Lands (22)

Spells (14)

Sideboard

I wanted to take advantage of the new card, Kuldotha Rebirth. In this deck, creating four power
on the first turn wasn’t out of the ordinary. When followed up by a Goblin Bushwhacker or Goblin Chieftain, it was almost impossible for my
opponents to come back.

That said, Andrew Lipkin hated the blue because sometimes it meant that casting Rebirth and
Bushwhacker in the same turn was impossible. I felt like it added some consistency, but I could see cutting the blue for Ember Haulers and a few more
artifacts.

Koth was amazing in this deck, as I imagine it is in every deck. Protecting it for a few turns
with some sacrificial Goblins was easy. Losing after acquiring Koth’s emblem was nigh impossible. I didn’t mind including Islands, Peaks, and Spires
into the mana base, because you probably can’t lose when you ultimate Koth, even with just a couple of Mountains.

The sideboard could be anything. Goblin Ruinblaster, Kuldotha Phoenix, Molten-Tail Masticore,
Tunnel Ignus, Tuktuk the Explorer, or Spikeshot Elder could easily see play. In fact, I initially built the U/R shell planning on abusing Spikeshot
Elder and Adventuring Gear, but found it to be too slow.

The curve was a little awkward and could benefit from some two-drops. Ember Hauler is by far the
best option, but that guy doesn’t excite me very much. A mono-red build would have more Panic Spellbombs, probably more Adventuring Gears, and almost
certainly some Ember Haulers.

Overall, the deck was incredibly powerful and was capable of some blazing starts, but it was
inconsistent. I liked the next deck a lot more.

White Weenie

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (28)

Lands (22)

Spells (10)

Quest is incredibly powerful and reminiscent of Sovereigns of Lost Alara. Several games ended
with me activating a Quest and my opponent conceding. However, in some of those, I had the Armor in hand, which leads me to believe that there should
be a second copy. Post-board, this is probably going to be a bigger issue, as they’ll be able to kill your first Armor. Sovereigns decks typically ran
two Eldrazi Conscriptions, so I could see a WW deck running two Argentum Armors as well. You still have Stoneforge Mystic to cheat it into play.

Most of the creatures were lacking in power. If I didn’t have a Quest or Adventuring Gear, my
dudes sucked. My opponent could pick off my double strikers, and I’d be left with a bunch of Ornithopters. Overall, the deck was powerful, but
inconsistent. It was time to try a few changes.

WW Affinity

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (27)

Lands (21)

Spells (12)

This one was a little better. It felt like a real deck that had some synergies but didn’t
absolutely rely on them. Most of the cards were fine on their own, unlike the previous iteration.

I wished there were another solid artifact creature that I could run. Glint Hawk Idol is
mediocre, and Etched Champion feels like a sideboard card. Leonin Arbiter is probably good against most of the decks in the format, especially because the
effect is nearly one-sided.

Myrsmith was amazing. Lodestone Golem would’ve been good on turn 3, which led to me testing a
few games with Gold Myr. I recommend that you stay away from those though. They are about as unexceptional as they look.

The sideboard will likely include a second Argentum Armor. Past that, there are a variety of
hateful creatures out there, such as Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Baneslayer Angel, Etched Champion, and Lodestone Golem. There are even anti-hate dudes
like Indomitable Archangel (which I suppose is probably a female). Removal may not be necessary, but it’s nice to have that crutch, so include some
Journeys to Nowhere or Revoke Existence.

Another list that I thought might be a sleeper hit was one that picked up a bit of steam on
Magic Online toward the end of the format: Mono-Black Vampires.

Mono-Black Vampires

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (32)

Lands (22)

Spells (6)

Yes, Vampires just lost its best card in Vampire Nocturnus, but that isn’t very relevant. This
list takes advantage of the plethora of sacrifice outlets in order to go big with Bloodthrone Vampire or Blade of the Bloodchief, or burn out your
opponent with Kalastria Highborn. Again, this is just another example of a lightning fast mono-colored aggro deck.

Blade of the Bloodchief is something that takes advantage of your sacrifice outlets, so it plays
like another Bloodghast. I can see playing a second copy, or zero with some in the sideboard. At the very least, I know of someone on Twitter who’ll
be happy with the use of all these Blades.

Dark Tutelage is basically me hedging against the format. Against decks like U/W Control, having
a little extra card advantage will go a long way. Versus midrange decks like the U/G/R list I posted above, the board is likely to stall out.
Peeling two cards a turn will likely win you the game at that point. Against Ramp decks like R/G Valakut or Mono-Green Eldrazi Ramp, it’s admittedly
slow, but those matchups should be easy goldfishes.

Seeing as how every color except blue has a reasonable mono-colored aggro deck, I’d be remiss if
I didn’t cover Elves. At first, I tried to get all cutesy with Genesis Wave, attempting to utilize it as a combo engine. That didn’t work so well.

My plan was to find Elvish Archdruid with Fauna Shaman, Wave for a bunch, revealing Strider
Harness. Then, I could Harness up my Archdruid (or Fauna Shaman to find one), Mnemonic Wall back the Wave, and keep going. Eventually, I’d cast Emrakul,
the Aeons Torn, and attack for a billion.

The problem was that my first Genesis Wave had to be for eight or so, and even then, that didn’t
guarantee that I could continue to combo. If you’re at all familiar with the old combo Elf decks (even the Standard versions), you probably cringed
reading that previous paragraph.

Genesis Wave was better off as a value card in a more streamlined Elf deck.

Mono-Green Elves

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 10-03-2010

Standard

Creatures (31)

Lands (21)

Spells (8)

4 Eldrazi Monument
4 Genesis Wave

Grand Prix Top 8 competitor, Jason Ford, said that Oran-Rief, the Vastwood and Khalni Garden
weren’t worth including. They slowed you down too much and provided minimal value in return. He also said that having eight big cards, in this case Genesis
Wave and Eldrazi Monument, was too many. However, it’s very difficult for the deck to actually push through without drawing one of those. Playing the
maximum seems like a good idea; although I could swap one Wave for another Overrun-type effect.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Baneslayer Angel are two problem cards, but thankfully there are
plenty of answers to both. Plummet is a cute answer, but maybe Brittle Effigy has more utility. It seems difficult to use under Linvala, so maybe a
split is better.

Splashing Cunning Sparkmage is probably a good idea. Raging Ravine, Rootbound Crag, and
Copperline Gorge all provide ample mana-fixing. Once I splash Sparkmage, I’d want to splash Trinket Mage as well (to fetch Basilisk Collar), which is easily
possible. At that point, why am I playing with an Elf subtheme?

It seems like the R/U/G Fauna Shaman deck is what I’d rather play.

Pyroclasm seems like the best card ever in a format with decks like these. In a tournament like
States, people tend to come out of the woodwork with various brews, and few of them are streamlined aggressive decks. Clasm will most likely be poor
against the average States player, otherwise I’d be all about playing a control deck packing four of them.

There’s most likely a U/R or U/G/R Destructive Force deck that I’ll enjoy playing. The time to
play a deck like that will come after the format has been fleshed out a bit.

In the meantime, Valakut is a solid deck that doesn’t lose much in the rotation. It’s very fast,
consistent on some levels, and can play Pyroclasm.

Mono-Green Eldrazi Ramp seems better than Valakut actually. When Valakut doesn’t draw Primeval
Titan, it doesn’t impress me. Eldrazi, on the other hand, has Summoning Traps that double as Titans, or far more impressive aliens. Mono-Green seems
to be much faster with its Joraga Treespeakers, Overgrown Battlements, and Eldrazi Temples. On top of that, it doesn’t rely on having Valakut
plus a bunch of Mountains. Being able to play Tectonic Edge, Khalni Garden, and the very underrated Mystifying Maze is yet another bonus.

Big Red is another viable strategy that looks like it’s cutting up the Magic-League eight-mans.
I don’t have the slightest clue how to build those decks, though. Is Kuldotha Phoenix, Inferno Titan, or Wurmcoil Engine the best finisher? How
much spot removal do you need? Can the deck beat a Volition Reins or even a Mana Leak?

I have the same issue with U/W Control. Baneslayer Angel seems amazing, as there should be a lot
of aggro, and it’s hard to kill, but what if you read the metagame wrong? How many counterspells do you need? Is it remotely possible to beat a
resolved Koth game 1?

What should you play at States? If you looked at any of the lists in here and said, “Ooh, that’s
cool,” I’d recommend playing that. States is a fun tournament, so you should play whatever you want to. Stop trying to worry about figuring out the
metagame correctly or tuning your deck to perfection.

Sleeve up some sweet cards, play some spicy one-ofs, do whatever you have to do.

If you’re like me, you’d play the R/U/G Vine deck, though.
Green is
still best!

GerryT

www.twitter.com/g3rryt