Last time, our Godo deck still had problems with the White weenies. I claimed that a White-based legend deck might simply be a better solution, and I was thinking of this saucy little number from Pro Tour Philadelphia. It has a White Weenie-style creature base, but runs all legends and thus can use Honor-Worn Shaku (a.k.a., the Paddle) to power up a stronger midgame than your typical weenie deck.
The Paddle allows for some nasty Yosei interaction; I’ve had games where I was able to play two Yosei in one turn off as little as four land and two Paddles … but I had to draw the two Yosei and various sundry legends to do it. Therein lies the problem: you can do some brutal things, but if you run out of gas or your guys receive Final Judgment then you’re basically reduced to topdeck mode. That’s never a great place to be, but it’s especially bad when you don’t have any Divining Tops or Gifts Ungiven to help you out.
Saviors of Kamigawa does have a rare who could solve this problem: Reki, the History of Kamigawa. Yes, the beatdown deck is seriously contemplating running a three-mana 1/2. I don’t know who came up with this first, but I learned about it from Jeff Powelson, who was the first person to play the deck in my area. Jeff was running two copies of Hokori, Dust Drinker in his deck, but I had a different idea in mind:
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Eight-and-a-Half Tails
3 Kentaro, the Smiling Cat
3 Sensei Golden-Tail
3 Isao, Enlightened Bushi
3 Reki, the History of Kamigawa
4 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
4 Honor-Worn Shaku
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon’s Fang
2 Day of Destiny
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
3 Forest
1 Eiganjo Castle
15 Plains
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
Sideboard:
4 Kitsune Blademaster
2 Blessed Breath
2 Opal-Eye, Konda’s Yojimbo
3 Terashi’s Grasp
4 Hokori, Dust Drinker
Like Monday’s deck, this deck runs only one copy of Godo, which is kind of lame for the Godo-a-Go-Go. However, you’ll draw Godo a lot thanks to Reki, and the deck’s odd mana base is actually not much of a Godo deterrent when Kentaro is present.
Before you ask: yes, I did consider adding Tenza, Godo’s Maul to the deck. The problem with the Maul, though, is that Jitte or Tatsumasa are almost always better on offense, and you’ll almost never get trample from the Maul anyway. The Maul was better in yesterday’s deck because it had fourteen Red legendary creatures, adding a lot of value to its inclusion.
You already saw on Monday what I think of Miren’s interaction with Yosei and Tatsumasa, i.e., it’s awesome. However, I go back and forth about replacing one Yosei with a Patron of the Kitsune, which can be easily put into play off of your seven foxes and is difficult to kill with, say, Sickening Shoal or Kagemaro.
This deck can compete with most opposing aggro in the format. Jeff claimed that Mono-Black is like a bye, thanks to Day of Destiny and Yosei, and from what I saw of his tournament games with this deck that seems accurate. The White Weenie matchup is tougher as a result of Celestial Kirin, but you can regenerate from the Kirin’s effect so Isao is a strong threat in the matchup.
Of course, since then we’ve had to welcome our new Gifts Ungiven overlords. That deck is virtually tailor-made to beat this one. Almost all of their removal is of the global –X/-X variety, which gets around Isao; said removal can be infinitely recurred and you can’t do a thing about it; they’re usually running Wear Away, which can stop your Tatsumasa or Day of Destiny shenanigans cold. Your best out is a crazy Yosei draw, but often times they can just kill the first Yosei, accept the tap-down, and Gifts up a copy of Cranial Extraction to prevent future Dragon-related problems.
So with Gifts Ungiven being the dominant deck in the format, does this mean the end of little Godo? I was ready to say so when I was finishing this article last weekend, but trust those crazy Japanese to turn things on their head. We’ll take a look at Godo’s appearance at Niigata tomorrow…