R/W Vehicles may have stolen the show at #SCGINDY last weekend, but quietly both Jack and Quinn Kiefer cashed the tournament with a unique R/W Aggro list that leverages Weapons Trainer and Bone Saw.
I dabbled in an Equipment-themed aggro deck myself, although I was using Inventor’s Goggles and Stone Haven Outfitter. I was surprised to learn that Jack’s list uses neither, since to me they were among the best cards in the deck, but upon closer inspection, those cards work on a different axis from the rest of the deck, building a big threat rather than committing to swarming your opponent.
With Weapons Trainer you get to use Captain’s Claws effectively and set up for some impressive Reckless Bushwhacker turns. The necessary four Smuggler’s Copters are here to combine with the equipment to turn on Toolcraft Exemplar and Inventor’s Apprentice, a nice cross-set synergy that blends the elements of the deck together seamlessly.
But it’s the most puzzling inclusion that ties the entire room together: Bone Saw. An underpowered card, it’s here as a synergy enabler, letting you turn on Weapons Trainer and your artifact-centric creatures as quickly and cheaply as possible so as to not disrupt your natural curve. Bone Saw may not be a good individual card, but it makes all your other cards better, and getting in a few extra points of damage or upgrading your two-power creatures to attack into Sylvan Advocate or Smuggler’s Copter is still something. Worst-case scenario, you can discard unnecessary copies to your own Copters.
This may be an aggressive deck, but finding the right balance to best exploit all the synergies means tuning this deck was no easy task for any Magic player, much less a fourteen-year-old. There are eighteen ways to turn on Toolcraft Exemplar and Inventor’s Apprentice, a solid creature curve from one to four of 14-11-2-2, and a sideboard strategy that allows you to morph into a Vehicles-style deck when you need more power or your opponent is very well-prepared to beat a horde of small creatures.
There’s a good chance that this deck falls out of favor as R/W Vehicles becomes a top deck in the format, but that won’t make the skill that went into designing it any less impressive. The whole Kiefer clan has been steadily improving before our eyes, and with the structure and support of Team Cardhoarder around them, it will be no surprise to see them playing deep into Sunday on a regular basis before too long.
Just stay off my lawn, you hear?
Creatures (23)
- 3 Reckless Bushwhacker
- 4 Weapons Trainer
- 4 Thraben Inspector
- 2 Falkenrath Gorger
- 2 Pia Nalaar
- 4 Toolcraft Exemplar
- 4 Inventor's Apprentice
Lands (22)
Spells (15)
