The post-Christmas lull has lifted, and it’s time to start building decks again. The few weeks leading up to a new set are difficult for a writer. It’s too early to trust some of the spoiler information, making deckbuilding largely a waste of time. How many people thought Giant Solifuge was awesome at 4/3, and not so hot at 4/1? Wreak Havoc had people thinking of Ponza-style builds returning to prominence, only to snag an extra colorless mana on the way to the prerelease. In addition to the understandable unreliability of spoilers, most of the competitive uberdecks that can be built have been built, and rather than analyze Boros versus GhaziGlare for the eightieth time, writers and readers alike are hungry for something new, powerful, and different.
We fall in love with certain decks. Whether it’s something plucked off StarCityGames.com, or something you thought up in a Nyquil-induced haze during flu season. When we find something we enjoy playing, we extol its virtues and turn a blind eye to its faults. Weaknesses are glossed over. “I don’t need to worry about fast creature decks, because I’ll just kill them with burn.” Strengths enter the realm of hyperbole. “This deck wins because no one can handle this many enchantments.” Their version becomes better than another equally competitive version of the same colors and strategies, just because it’s theirs. When they win, there’s praise, and when they lose, there are excuses. “You’re lucky I didn’t get the third part of my combo out, you bastard!”
It’s ok — we’ve all been there. It’s a natural human response. Despite that affection for our collections of cardboard, when the afterglow wears off, the decks begin to look dull. They lose their luster; their pale elegance begins to look wan. Our minds and eyes begin to stray elsewhere, and our hearts yearn to have their need for infatuation satisfied anew.
I’m convinced Wizards knows this, and has carefully crafted their release schedule to coincide with the average human attention span. Right about the time when our decks have snugly fit into the realm of “comfortable tedium”, expansions arrive. We answer the call, put on our sharpest deckbuilding clothes, open our wallets, and start building to impress once more. Certainly, we’ll find something even better than the last! We scour the decklists looking for something that’s better, even if we only wind up moving sideways instead of further ahead. The grass is greener, right?
Guildpact certainly hasn’t disappointed; it’s brought a number of excellent cards to the table. As I mentioned previously, Guildpact solidifies this block in terms of building potential. While Ravnica had a definite effect in tilting the environment, Guildpact enables us to set our sights on much more distant shores. Now, ninety percent of our tri-color builds have at least two guilds they can draw upon. This makes for a much more unpredictable and interesting environment, and also makes Sealed Deck construction a pain in the ass. Wait, strike that. I meant “more fun.” Trying to narrow choices down to two or three colors can be difficult when so many good cards are spread across the guilds.
By now, buzz about the prerelease has been circulating for a few days. If you attended one, I hope you had fun, even if you didn’t win anything. I attended the tournament in Seattle, the first time I had driven up there for one. Good times were had by all, including a rare bonus for some fortunate players — literally. Due to a printing mistake, some of our sealed Ravnica tournament packs had large runs of rare cards in them, apparently in place of basic land. The tournament organizers allowed players to keep the cards. Though these lucky few couldn’t use their bounty in their decks, they were given a replacement box instead. My better half continued her random card magnetism/luck and snagged one of the seventeen-rare boxes. However, one guy at our table received not one, but two boxes chock full of rare goodness. Two boxes full of rares in addition to the third, “normal” tournament pack? Good lord. That paid his price of admission and then some, eh?
My plan, going in, was to hopefully construct something revolving around the tri-color builds that have a full set of guilds — W/R/G (Boros-Gruul-Selesnya), or W/G/B (Selesnya-Orzhov-Golgari). I succeeded in creating W/R/G, and after my initial 2-0 start was quite pleased with my aggro build. That is, until I ran into the real decks, losing to cards I couldn’t beat (Glare of Subdual, with my only enchantment removal in deck or sideboard being Absolver Thrull), play mistakes (Me: Savage Twister for five. Him: Tap Benevolent Ancestor to save Siege Wurm. Me: Oh yeah.), and cards that were simply bigger and beefier than my removal, or my deck for that matter (Hi, Szadek. I thought you were on my side? I went to bat for you, man! No pun intended.)
My fattest creature was Graven Dominator. Yeah, a 4/4 flyer. Go me.
One of the frustrating aspects of Sealed (or Draft, for that matter) is that oftentimes, no matter what you choose, you’ll wind up wishing you’d gone another direction instead. Sometimes the cards love you, and sometimes they hate you. I had some nice weenies and a respectable amount of Red removal; a pair of Pyromatics, Fiery Conclusion, Savage Twister (which is worth its weight in gold), Skarrgan Skybreaker, and Blockbuster. However, my rares didn’t fit together very well. Aside from Blockbuster #734 (I swear, I get it every event), I had Stitch in Time, Autochthon Wurm, Bloodletter Quill, and Bottled Cloister.
Yeah.
I stared at them awhile, and shrugged. I’m sure a better person than I could have found some inventive way to utilize all of those together, but I didn’t. Mind you, lack of good rares doesn’t always mean failure. My primary problem was the lack of removal reach. There are a lot of sources of Red removal out there, but it doesn’t seem sufficient for the hordes of fatties that I was regularly seeing decks churn out on Saturday. If I had my druthers, I would have dropped the Red entirely for Black — in which I had no removal other than Orzhov Euthanist. Ergo, take my warning: There’s fat out there, son. Be sure you can handle it. I’m about to swear off Red in non-Constructed builds.
Green without fat, Black without removal, one enchantment remover, and Red as my best color. My aggro build had the virtue of winning or losing quickly, which means I spent a significant amount of time wandering tables between rounds and observing other matches. I was particularly interested in observing how the new mechanics were working out. The greatest difficulty seemed to be people remembering to utilize Haunt properly. Haunt reads as “When this card is put into a graveyard from play, remove it from the game haunting target creature”. It’s not a “you may” effect — it happens. That means both players need to remember it happens, and if they move a step beyond it, there’s no “oh well, you lost your chance to decide.” It means back up, do it right, then continue. This is important; since some of the effects are global, they can have some important ramifications on your game, particularly in an environment like Sealed.
Ah, mechanics, the grain for our bread.
I’m certain that other articles by our excellent writing staff are going to analyze the set by card and by color. People will provide information on smart drafting and Sealed strategies. We’ll all be figuring out combos and synergies for the next few months. A few cards leap out as strong immediately: Mortify. Rumbling Slum. Electrolyze. Some cards may not truly find their way into our hearts until Kamigawa is rotated out, such as Angel of Despair. Regardless, ideas are percolating everywhere. I’m hard at work on an Izzet build incorporating Niv-Mizzet and Jushi “I used to be an Apprentice, but now I’m a friggin’ Machine Gun”. It’ll be hard to push Meloku out of the way, but Niv-Mizzet? I think he has a chance in the right build. The trick is finding it. Niv-Mizzet, Jushi, and Cerebral Vortex adds up to fast damage, though. I just gotta find something that isn’t going to get me killed. Yeah, I love Meloku, but I’m tired of her. I want someone newer, sexier, and scalier. Ok, yeah, that doesn’t really work, does it? Sorry, Meloku. You know how I carry metaphors too far. [And remember, folks… Meloku’s a guy. — Craig]
Where was I? The mechanics, right.
If you remember our prior discussions, I was very hopeful that the three mechanics introduced in Guildpact would be useful in building competitive decks. Ravnica brought us thirteen Transmute, fifteen Convoke, ten Radiance, and twelve Dredge. Transmute and Dredge have shown some utility and power in the correct decks, while Convoke and Radiance are largely disappointing in the Standard environment. With Transmute, you have efficient cards like Dimir Infiltrator, Drift of Phantasms, Muddle the Mixture, and Shred Memory. Nothing amazing, but they can be very useful supplemental cards. Dredge? You can construct a deck around the mechanic and have almost all of your bases covered, and we all know how Life from the Loam has changed multiple environments with its simplicity and power. Convoke cards like Devouring Light and Chord of Calling are useful for reasons not related to Convoke. The only Radiance card to crop up hither and yon seems to be Rally the Righteous in the occasional Boros aggro build, and I do admit that Brightflame seems underutilized as a late-game tide turner. You know how you argue with yourself over certain cards? I never include Brightflame, but I find myself in situations where it’d be nice to have one, such as when I’m running White-Red Wildfire. Despite that, I can’t bring myself to call it a viable card in Standard because its cost is prohibitive. Wildfire for six, or a massively expensive Pyroclasm that gives me life? Sigh. Regardless, the more multicolored options we have, the less useful Radiance will become.
What did Guildpact bring us? Are we going to see decks powered by the mechanics, a la Dredge? Or are they going to be shuffled into your casual box next to your Cleansing Beams next to your stack of Mighthavebeens?
I’ve decided to examine the mechanics over the next few articles. Originally, I was going to do them all in one sitting, until I realized I had far more to say about them than I thought. Additionally, I wanted to provide a basic build of a Standard guild deck, which may or may not include some of the cards involved in the mechanic. Often, a mechanic can be defined by its inclusion as a basic card. Remember Fading? I consider that one of the best mechanics ever invented, because cards with it were prolific in multiple competitive decks at the time. Obviously, it ranks higher in my estimation than the aforementioned Radiance, whose cards can’t buy their way into Standard decks.
I’ll list out the cards with that mechanic, in order of casting cost. I’ll include a short description with relevant information, since you can obtain the complete text merely by clicking on it. I find opening a lot of windows to be annoying, however, so my brief annotations should suffice. After I break down the mechanic, I’ll postulate a starting point for a guild build, with appropriate explanations of card choice.
As a reminder, all of this is subjective, but I try to base my thoughts in sound logic. I may be wrong about some of the cards below when describing their usefulness, but I promise I took the time to think of each of them on their own merits, rather than simply discarding them out of hand. I’ll say that I’m very happy with one mechanic, pleased with another, and disappointed in the last. Since it’s better to end on a happy note than a depressing one, we’ll start this short series of articles with the mechanic I’m most disappointed in: Bloodthirst.
Bloodthirst (11 cards)
Bloodthirst X means “If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature comes into play with X +1/+1 counters on it.”
G – Skarrgan Pit-Skulk – 1/1, Bloodthirst 1 – Creatures with power less can’t block it.
RG – Scab-Clan Mauler – 1/1, Bloodthirst 2 – Trample.
2G – Gristleback – 2/2, Bloodthirst 1 – Sacrifice to gain life equal to its power.
2R – Bloodthirsty Prowler – 3/1, Bloodthirst 1
3R – Rabble-Rouser – 1/1, Bloodthirst 1 – Adds its power to attackers.
2RG – Burning-Tree Bloodscale – 2/2, Bloodthirst 1 – Can stop creatures from blocking it, or force creatures to block it.
3GG – Ghor-Clan Savage – 2/3, Bloodthirst 3
4RR – Skarrgan Firebird – 3/3, Bloodthirst 3 – Flying, can return to your hand from graveyard if you dealt damage to opponent.
4RRG – Skarrgan Skybreaker – 3/3, Bloodthirst 3 – Sacrifice to do its power in damage to creature or player.
6G – Battering Wurm – 4/3, Bloodthirst 1 – Creatures with power less can’t block it.
6G – Petrified Wood-Kin – 3/3, Bloodthirst X – Can’t be countered, protection from instants.
Bloodthirst reminds me of Convoke, which means I’ll draw a corollary here for a moment. Convoke, due to the nature of its mechanic, obviously resulted in creatures having a higher-than-usual casting cost. For example, take the Conclave Equenaut. It’s a 3/3 flyer for six mana. You can get a myriad of better creatures for that investment of mana, or even slightly less.
Let’s proceed logically. If you’re going to use Convoke, you need to generate creatures. In an aggressive build, your creatures need to be attacking. While you may run mana accelerants such as Llanowar Elves or Birds of Paradise, you don’t want all of your creatures to be mana generators, because then you have no offense. You don’t want to drop Savannah Lions, Watchwolf, Isamaru, and then spend turn-4 turning them sideways in a non-attacking fashion because you’re anxious to drop your 3/3 flyer. As such, Equenaut nets you far less of an advantage than another card. This holds true for the more expensive creatures as well. The scope of Convoke is very narrow — it’s essentially so true to Selesnya that you need to generate a crapload of Saprolings you don’t intend to attack with, in order to power out those creatures that will attack. The net result is a lot of inefficiency. If your creatures die to a Pyroclasm, that 4WW card in your hand is going to look mighty poor.
Bloodthirst is similar, in that it’s also very narrow in scope. For Bloodthirst to be effective, you’re relying on your ability to deal damage. Logically, opposing decks are built to be able to prevent that very thing from happening — that’s one strike against Bloodthirst. However, the critical flaw with Bloodthirst is that when a stalemate occurs, the mechanic backfires. Much like Convoke, what you wind up with are overcosted, underpowered creatures. As I roamed the tables, I saw a lot of people eyeing their Skarrgan Skybreakers in hand, thinking they could really use a 6/6 to help break the stalemate — but a 3/3? Not so good.
If you have some permanents that can deal damage, such as Scorched Rusalka or Hypervolt Grasp, Bloodthirst becomes more manageable. Indeed, you want your permanents to deal damage. The designers deserve props for our having multiple cards available that can do this: Viashino Fangtail, Rumbling Slum, Honden of Infinite Fire, Hypervolt Grasp, or Orcish Artillery all provide the ability to generate damage without spending additional mana. Otherwise, the net casting cost of your cards becomes outrageous. Sure, Shock is cheap and efficient, but Volcanic Hammer and Char — fine burn spells on their own — push the casting cost too high.
Let’s say I have a Char in hand, and no permanents capable of dealing damage; we’re ground-stalled. Do I want to spend 5RRRRG to summon a 6/6 guy without evasion, using up a burn spell to do so? 3GGRRR for a 5/6 groundpounder? 3RRRG for a 3/3 Burning-Tree Bloodscale that has an occasionally useful ability?
No, you don’t. The grass really is greener elsewhere.
That’s where Bloodthirst disappoints. Ostensibly, it is most successful when it is beatdown. It therefore has identical flaws — when it peters out, it tends to sit there and spin its wheels. However, where something like Boros might keep spitting out efficiently costed, evasive creatures and burn, Gruul has to deal damage — which may mean undesired burn or mana expenditures — in order to make its creatures approach anything resembling an efficient cost. Ironically, the mechanic would seem to struggle the most against other beatdown decks that don’t have to do anything tricky to make their creatures efficient. Which is better: Watchwolf, or Scab-Clan Mauler? On turns two and three, they’re the same. On turns 12 and 14, Watchwolf is strictly superior, because when he lands you know he’s 3/3, period. He isn’t potentially a 3/3. That can turn the tide of things and enable you to both plan and engage your win condition more successfully.
Bloodthirst, if it gets an early advantage, can be very solid. Kird Ape makes the Red-Green deck have a potential starting creature that’s more powerful than Isamaru, or Savannah Lions, or Lantern Kami, or Frostling, or Llanowar Elves, or whatever floats your boat. Chances are, a 2/3 Kird Ape attacking on turn 2 will get through, and allow you to crack out a 3/3 Mauler. The fact that Mauler tramples helps to feed the Bloodthirst. Ideally, however, beyond that you’re going to want to summon something such as, say, a Burning-Tree Shaman and a Rumbling Slum. That’s some good, eh? Four turns, and you have a 2/3, 3/3, 3/4, and 5/5 that’s pinging your opponent. Indeed, Rumbling Slum may be the most vocal advocate of Bloodthirst, because it fits nicely as an efficient beatstick that helps facilitate the mechanic. If you’re running Bloodthirst critters without it, you’re in for much more pain and disappointment. Where Bloodthirst breaks down is in the later cards. It somewhat tops out at the facilitating Slum.
Regardless, just at that point — with the single Bloodthirst card — you have a strong opening. It will do well against Boros builds, because Boros is strong in evasion but weak in fat. Gruul will gladly race them if they don’t want to block. We may see Devouring Light make its presence known soon, as an answer to the Gruul fatties. Go, go, White removal! As I’ve said before, it isn’t the best we’ve had, but it’s absolutely necessary that White have this removal counterpoint. Devouring Light and Mortify will be on the lookout for a lot of Gruul critters.
Conversely, Selesnya’s White-Green aggro builds might have a 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, and something else, which can match its Gruul opponent almost stride for stride despite the strong opening. If it’s defensive Selesnya, it’ll pop out a Saproling, or a Glare, or a Devouring Light, or a Carven Caryatid. If it’s offensive, it will pack creature boosters or combat tricks.
Things become inefficient when you dilute your deck. If you run more burn to clear the way, you have less permanent sources of damage. If you run more permanent sources such as the ones listed, you have less potent creature removal. Indeed, the difficulty in dedicating slots to Bloodthirst creatures, or their facilitation, becomes evident early. More than a number of other decks, it needs to be strongly focused on not slowing down, for the more Bloodthirst creatures you run, the more you’ll struggle after catching your breath. Ironically, Gruul decks may not be the best spot for our number one aggro enhancer, Umezawa’s Jitte. The pause in tempo may wind up slowing itself down enough to work against Bloodthirst. Additionally, White gained a certain card called Order of the Stars, which may soon crop up as a staple card — even in aggressive decks — as it will stop damage from the Jitte, or that would invoke Bloodthirst. In a multicolored environment, it’s hard to beat the protection-of-your-choice, and calling “Red” is going to be a fairly safe bet.
The concept of Jitte slowing down one’s tempo may sound odd. The card is awesome; there’s no doubting that. That comment is definitely not a slight against one of the most powerful cards I’ve known. However, I’ll explain what I mean. Forgetting the Order for a second — let’s say no one got the memo on it and thinks its 0/1 Defender nature makes it unplayable, despite the fact it’ll stop early beats from a large number of decks. A random feasible example of Jitte slowing down Bloodthirst:
Turn 1: Mountain, Kird Ape.
Opponent: Plains, go.
Turn 2: Forest, Attack. Summon Jitte.
Opponent: Forest, Sakura-Tribe Elder.
Turn 3: Mountain. Attack.
Now, if you spend two mana to equip the Jitte, Elder blocks Ape; sac, and no combat damage is dealt. Your Scab-Clan Mauler sits in hand wondering why he’s 1/1, and your Burning-Tree Shaman says, “Why didn’t you cast me instead?” At the end of the turn, you’re in a worse position than you would be if you hadn’t paused to drop the Jitte. Yes, if your opponent doesn’t summon any creatures (or a Jitte of his own), you have a mean Kird Ape ready to do some business on the other side of town. You could also have a 2/3, 3/3, and 3/4. I love Jitte — I really do — but I can’t help but consider the latter scenario more advantageous than one Ape and a pokey thing, since at the moment, every deck starts with the premise that it needs to handle an early Jitte.
Regardless, if that initial Kird Ape is something less beefy that will get blocked or not get through, you’ll be wondering why you’re even bothering with the Mauler as a two-drop. That, my friends, is the point — why bother? If you’re going to run too many Bloodthirst cards, you’ll lose. If you’re going to run efficient beatdown cards, then the Bloodthirst cards are largely irrelevant. Hence my disappointment. The greatest benefit to Bloodthirst seems to be it makes people consider blocking earlier than they normally would.
Now, obviously Bloodthirst must have been a balancing nightmare; we have to give the design team credit, because it is a good concept that can’t have been easy to implement fairly across multiple environments. However, I’m concerned about Standard. While it can perform well in the early turns, it’s severely limited in application beyond that. That’s why I compared it to Convoke.
Examining the cards singly is a mixed bag. The Mauler is solid early if you run aggressive one-drops. Other cheap cards, such as Bloodthirsty Prowler, don’t really fit well because they die too easily to chump blockers. 2R for 3/1 or 4/2 without trample usually just winds up being a waste of a turn. Still, it’s at least efficiently costed, and that’s worth mentioning.
Cards like the Battering Wurm and Petrified Wood-Kin aren’t really a fit in an aggressive deck, unless you base it on accelerating into fat critters. If that’s the case, more of your deck will be devoted to not dealing damage, which works against the mechanic. The Pit-Skulk has potential application with creature boosters; a Moldervine Cloak on it does a lot more good than Bloodthirst. Its best virtue may be that un-Bloodthirsted, it can bypass hordes of Meloku tokens or Saprolings. As a strict one-drop, however, I can’t see it being superior to Kird Ape. If a 1/1 can’t block a 1/1, that’s fine, but when a 1/1 doesn’t want to block a 2/3 that’s going to be a lot more threatening and durable? I’m all for the 2/3.
Gristleback has trouble finding a spot, but might be able to pick his spots. Bloodscale and Rabble-Rouser start entering the realm of party tricks — do you really want to pay four mana for them, or would you rather it be something else? A Rumbling Slum is more dangerous; Ulasht, the Hate Seed is more versatile; Iwamori of the Open Fist is more aggressive; Greater Mossdog is more resilient; and Viashino Fangtail is more in-line with what your other Bloodthirst cards thrive on.
If you’re playing fat creatures, I’ll take a Hunted Dragon over Skarrgan Firebird, because their handful of 2/2’s are just going to slam face first into your beatsticks. The recursion could be helpful somewhere gimmicky, so we can’t just throw it out, but I have to wonder why you’d bother being gimmicky here in the first place. By the time I’m generating enough mana for Battering Wurm, as nice as a 5/4 is, I hope you’re dead or I’m summoning Borborygmos to trample over whatever dragon you throw in the way without dying, and permanently boost all his buddies along the way. Petrified Wood-Kin has potential application against Blue decks, and is situational enough that we’ll relegate it to the sideboard without any hard feelings. Ghor-Clan Savage begs the question, “Why aren’t you Kodama of the North Tree, Arashi, Grave-Shell Scarab, or even Phytohydra, for the love of Pete?” Depending on the deck, of course. A power/toughness ratio of 5/6 could be useful, in that it survives 5/5’s, but I still say no, there are simply better options out there.
Bloodthirst creatures can obviously be used in non-Gruul decks, though few fit the bill; for example, you could see a Rabble Rouser in a Boros deck if not for more efficient boosters like Glorious Anthem or the aforementioned Rally the Righteous. White-Red focuses more on evasion, efficiency, and utility than generic 3/1 or 4/2 beaters like the Prowler, and has superior options to the Firebird in both colors. Gristleback could slide into a Selesnya deck as a three-drop between Watchwolf and Loxodon Hierarch and generate even more potential lifegain to the deck, or help stabilize the early creature drops for Golgari alongside Shambling Shell. A W/R/G Zoo deck could pencil in the Mauler next to Watchwolf to give it eight 3/3 creatures available in the two-drop slot, which is definitely worth considering.
In summary, Bloodthirst doesn’t quite live up to its potential. Even in Sealed, where matches often degenerate into hordes of creatures staring at each other looking for a miniscule advantage, it suffers. I’m sure my experiences with these cards colored my perception somewhat, but staring at a Bloodscale when you’re trying to break a deadlock does nothing for morale. It’s the other traits of the cards that make them intriguing. For example, Gristleback only works as a potential three-mana 3/3 for Green because of the lifegain; otherwise, there’s Gnarled Mass and Trained Armodon in its place. Mauler should be a somewhat reliable 3/3 for two mana, but it’s poor in the late game when you need it to be threatening instead of meek. Pit-Skulk’s unblockability, Wood-Kin’s anti-Blue/instant nature, and the Firebird’s recursion are what give them nods in the direction of potential rather than the shoebox. Not every card can be an All-Star; being able to contribute in some capacity is fine.
To summarize Bloodthirst:
Not bad at all (2)
RG – Scab-Clan Mauler – 1/1, Bloodthirst 2 – Trample.
2G – Gristleback – 2/2, Bloodthirst 1 – Sacrifice to gain life equal to its power.
Has a niche somewhere (3)
G – Skarrgan Pit-Skulk – 1/1, Bloodthirst 1 – Creatures with power less can’t block it.
4RR – Skarrgan Firebird – 3/3, Bloodthirst 3 – Flying, can return to your hand from graveyard if you dealt damage to opponent.
6G – Petrified Wood-Kin – 3/3, Bloodthirst X – Can’t be countered, protection from instants.
Put me in a box and label it “No” (2)
2R – Bloodthirsty Prowler – 3/1, Bloodthirst 1
6G – Battering Wurm – 4/3, Bloodthirst 1 – Creatures with power less can’t block it.
3GG – Ghor-Clan Savage – 2/3, Bloodthirst 3
I’m crying IRL (4)
3R – Rabble-Rouser – 1/1, Bloodthirst 1 – Adds its power to attackers.
4RRG – Skarrgan Skybreaker – 3/3, Bloodthirst 3 – Sacrifice to do its power in damage to creature or player.
2RG – Burning-Tree Bloodscale – 2/2, Bloodthirst 1 – Can stop creatures from blocking it, or force creatures to block it.
That’s five out of eleven cards not causing me pain, which gives it a 45% approval rating. That isn’t horrible, but it sure isn’t good.
Let’s move on to the Gruul deck, and see what I’m using as my base build.
Creatures (23)
- 4 Kird Ape
- 3 Ronin Houndmaster
- 4 Burning-Tree Shaman
- 4 Dryad Sophisticate
- 4 Gruul Guildmage
- 4 Rumbling Slum
Lands (23)
Spells (14)
I’m sure the first thing people will notice is the lack of Umezawa’s Jitte. The reason is that Moldervine Cloak is more recursive, and less disruptive to the deck’s raw aggression. This is an experiment that may change. More on that in a moment.
Gruul aggro should start with Kird Ape. Now that we have Stomping Ground available, it shouldn’t be overly hard to ensure a Forest on turn two. I adore the Rage Pits because it’s a cheap and useful combat trick. Being able to grant your creatures trample can break stalls. Being able to do it for two mana, and have it grant +1/+1 as well? That’s very nice. I’m not sure if two or three is the correct number yet, but I’m certain it has a place both early and late.
Imagine an opening like this:
Turn One: Mountain, Kird Ape
Turn Two: Forest, Dryad Sophisticate
Turn Three: Land, Moldervine Cloak.
You can bet that an unblockable 5/4 on turn three is going to make some people fret. If you don’t get the Cloak, then drop a 3/4 Shaman and make them start measuring. If you don’t get the Shaman, then throw down a Ronin Houndmaster. Swings for two, hits for three if they throw something out in front of it. The key is avoiding a stall. We want consistent damage.
The Cloak is relatively cheap to recur, and has plenty of targets. I’m not sure if it will truly be better than Jitte here — as I said, it’s purely an experiment at this point — but with so many people ready to get rid of Jittes, something recursive could wind up being superior in an aggressive deck, even if one-on-one the Jitte is superior.
We have:
1cc: 8
2cc: 11
3cc: 14
4cc: 4
That’s a small curve, which is why you don’t need acceleration. There’s a point in aggro builds where acceleration nets you no advantage; going faster for the sake of going faster is useless. Here, a smooth and linear mana curve is superior.
The lone four-drop is the Rumbling Slum, which is where the curve tops off. He’s fat, can be made into a 6/6 trampler with a simple Rage Pit activation, and breaks stalemates by pinging your opponent. It’d be a shame if you didn’t draw him and had to spend four mana pumping your Cloaked Sophisticate, though. Snicker. Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m getting into that area of infatuation where every dream draw is going to happen. We know it won’t. It can, but it won’t every time.
Seriously, though, it’s fun to think about.
The only negative synergy the deck has is the Shaman punishing you for using the Guildmage or Rage Pits. I wouldn’t be overly worried about it — you’re going to be doing far more to your opponent than they are to you, even if you wind up sitting behind a thick wall of fat, throwing land bombs at your opponent at the end of his turn.
The burn spells are common sense. Shock for efficiency and early path clearing, and Char for larger, Meloku-like critters and finishing blows. Naturalize is in there because you need to have an answer for two things: Jitte, obviously, and Glare of Subdual, particularly if Glare decks start packing Order of the Stars to negate early beatdown rushes.
Cards I considered, and why I didn’t include them:
- Frenzied Goblin: I like his ability to prevent blocking. I disliked his 1/1 nature and chose the Kird Ape instead.
- Viashino Sandstalker: In the “creatures with haste” slot. I decided that 3/3 (with Bushido active) was superior due to the extra point of toughness. Considering the horde of two power critters out there, the Sandstalker would likely fail miserably.
- Tin Street Hooligan: He was there originally instead of Naturalize. I simply couldn’t ignore the Glare, however. The Hooligan is, however, a very nice card.
- Giant Solifuge: I didn’t like being unable to utilize him with the Pits, Guildmage, or Cloak. Plus, his single point of toughness ensures he’s essentially a weak Ball Lightning, and that does me no real good considering the cards he’s competing against. Perhaps in the sideboard against other burn decks, he could prove helpful.
- Hunted Dragon: I had him in here before the Ronin Houndmaster. However, I wanted to speed the deck up. I might make the switch once more, because a 6/6 hasty flyer is a mean finisher — and seriously, when you have a bunch of creatures out that can withstand the 2/2 tokens, he’s horribly good for you. At the least, he warrants strong consideration. Like Jitte, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make an appearance.
- Volcanic Hammer: It provided a bigger boom, but the sorcery speed was a drawback. At this point, the extra damage isn’t important, because our creatures are fat, durable, and we don’t necessarily mind trading them in a pinch. Crunch, we’ll make more, eh?
That’s it! My peek into Gruul is over. I hope you enjoyed it. The deck has done well in early testing, although everything’s so uncertain and new now that we’ll have to see what else crops up. It has a solid degree of consistency and redundancy built in, and hasn’t seemed to hit the stall point that plagues a lot of beatdown decks. I hope it gives you some ideas, and I always welcome hearing your suggestions. Have a better build idea? Think Bloodthirst is stronger than I’m giving it credit for? Find a flaw in my thoughts? Let me know.
Next article, I’ll broach the mechanic that I like the most in Guildpact — but I’ll keep it a secret for now. Take care, enjoy your Guildpact cards, and thanks for your support.
-Mason
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