|
Home Decks Combos Articles Visual Spoilers Art Features Links Search Forum |
|
|
|
|
The release of the Magic 2010 Core Set (M10) and Zendikar recently put two decks in particular in the forefront of many people’s minds. While I’m keen to explore many of the possibilities that the current Standard format holds, I find if there’s a deck that is begging to be built, I’m best served by building it so that at the very least I can get it out of my head. In addition, the first decks built help to set the bar for future decks. Of particular interest for the budget and casual player is that these decks are mono-coloured. The obvious advantage of mono-coloured decks is that there is no need to spend loads of money on rare dual lands, saving that money for cards that, you know, actually do something. With the Tribal theme of Lorwyn no longer around to limit our deck building creativity, the field is wide open. So, let’s start with...Tribal! Yes, the two most obvious decks involve tribes in White and Black. Let’s take a look. Will the Real White Weenie Please Stand Up
The idea behind the strategy, of course, is to get efficient creatures onto the battlefield early and often, taking your opponent down before they are able to get organized. However, one thing that decks like this often lack is that one element that many aggressive, or aggro, decks suffer from: lack of reach. We’re not talking about the mechanic here. In terms of deck building, reach is that aspect of a deck that answers this question: what are you going to do once your opponent stabilizes? If your opponent survives the initial onslaught, kills a few of your guys and maybe has something of his own on the battlefield, what are you going to do next? This is where the Kithkin deck was able to be competitive; by being able to respond to mass removal like Firespout with multiple creatures in a single card (Cloudgoat Ranger, Spectral Procession) they were able to re-establish their board position and continue putting pressure on the enemy. Let’s look at the short list of candidates for the updated version of this classic. Mythic Rare In Merchant Magic, you can have up to one Mythic Rare card in your pile of 60. While many decks just grab a rare for this slot, it’s worth examining what cards are available to us at Mythic.
That’s quite a crew! Both Planeswalkers have relevant effects. Ajani has been helping out White Weenie for a while now, putting +1/+1 counters on your whole team and gaining life in an aggro mirror match. The only downside is that the counters ability decreases loyalty. Meanwhile, Elspeth actually has two abilities that increase loyalty, and both seem to apply. Making soldiers is good if our deck has a major soldier theme. If we focus more just on White creatures, well, the tokens are White as well. Elspeth's second ability will help in a couple of ways, granting one of your guys much needed evasion to get around a stalled board and pumping him for extra damage. It seems like that would go well with the exalted mechanic quite nicely as well. Both of these guys fit in at the four-converted-mana-cost (4cc) slot, which, as we’ll see, is probably a good place on our curve to be located. Meanwhile, Baneslayer Angel is just great. At the 5cc slot she also fits into the curve nicely, especially if we don’t have too many copies – and we’re only allowed the one. All of these cards are fairly expensive, but we might be able to find a spot for just one. Let’s see what else they have to contend with. Rare It’s important to make sure that if there are powerful effects available to your strategy at Rare then you take advantage of them. The main cards that jump out are the following:
Captain of the Watch has a mana cost that begs the question: what do I get for a whopping six mana? What you get is a total of four, that’s FOUR creatures, with a combined power of nine. Your opponent needs a board sweeping effect just to deal with the one card. Consider that you’ll probably play this guy after they’ve just used a board sweeper, and now you’re talking about reach. Unfortunately, I have been playing with this card prior to the Zendikar release and have found that six mana is just one too many, and the card often sits in your hand while your opponent draws relevant cards. A card that brings in a bunch of tokens on your side definitely helps with reach, and the one-sided wrath effect of Martial Coup can really win games. But for maximum effect you really want to make X=5, which means that the total cost is seven. If you’re playing an aggressive strategy, this card seems too expensive. Conqueror’s Pledge has a similar effect, but not the same. Six tokens for five mana is a good deal. It won’t be often that the kicker will ever matter in a Constructed environment, but the mana cost of this card gives it a leg up. Finally, mono-coloured decks always have a particular weakness; in this case the words “protection from white” are really an anagram for “trouble”. A card like Gargoyle Castle provides a non-white creature in a mono-white deck, and it also helps with reach since you can use it for mana right up until you need a creature...you know, right after that board sweeping effect. Let’s take a look at what else is available before we make any decisions. Uncommon Once again, we’re spoiled for choice. In fact, the plethora of cards that work within our strategy is what is going to make this difficult. Here are some of the key Uncommon cards to consider:
Elite Vanguard, a replacement for Savannah Lions, is a fantastic card for our strategy. Any one-drop that can deal two points of damage has to be considered. When there are no drawbacks, it almost surely makes the cut. Keep in mind that it has a creature type of Soldier as well, since that could be relevant. White Knight is a classic and has been rocking in White Weenie decks for many years. The reason is simple: for only two mana you get a 2/2 first striker that also happens to be very good against Black decks. This is a solid two-drop. Sigiled Paladin is part of a long tradition of variations on the White Knight theme – this one from Shards of Alara block. Once again we get a 2/2 first striker for two. Instead of protection, though, the second ability is exalted. While this may seem to play against the “swarm the opponent” theme of our deck, it could also help by providing additional damage from some of our creatures. While not a fantastic option, Rhox Pikemaster might be a good option if we definitely build a Tribal Soldier theme into our deck. In Kor Aeronaut we have a 2/2 flier for only two mana, which is a great deal. Evasion is a key element in the strategy of pushing through damage, and the kicker ability could help push extra damage through on a stalled board. In a deck that is not focused on the Ally mechanic, Kazandu Blademaster is essentially a 2/2 with first strike and vigilance for two white mana. This is another play on the White Knight theme, but this one happens to be a soldier as well. His second ability is relevant if you draw multiples, and I’d like to give this card a try. Of course, our best White removal and combat tricks are here at Uncommon in the form of Path to Exile and Harm’s Way. If I could, I’d love to have both, but Path to Exile is one of the best removal spells in the format and is almost an auto-inclusion for our strategy. Let’s finally consider the Common cards and then put it all together. Common
At common, White is definitely rocking the Tribal Soldier theme. Since we want to be aggressive, none of the ‘guard’ cards seem to fit very well. Blinding Mage is good in Limited, but I think we’ll see if we can survive without it in Constructed, especially with the aggro theme. As for removal, depending on our choices at Uncommon, it seems like Journey to Nowhere is an upgrade on Pacifism in most situations (the exception being the very few creatures with abilities that trigger when they leave the battlefield, such as Reveillark). Putting it all together, here’s a first shot at the Soldier tribe:
When building any deck that could be considered "budget", it is often necessary to compromise on the quality of individual cards. Let's face it, many of the best cards are rare. In order to make up for this, I often look for synergy between cards that can increase the overall power of each card in the deck over the relative power of that card in a vacuum. This deck focuses on soldier Tribal synergy and a low curve. Honor of the Pure is a key element in pumping up the team and Conqueror’s Pledge helps to reload. The deck absolutely wants to be hitting for two or often three damage on turn two and ramping up from there. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror
Mythic Rare
Sorin Markov seems to be very popular in his early days and Liliana Vess also has a small but devoted following. However, I’d like to give Vampire Nocturnus a try since it is the Vampire lord. I’m not all that excited about his ability being in effect only some of the time, but I’ll never know whether it’s good unless I try it. Rare
Malakir Bloodwitch is a card that has me very excited in the the current Standard format in general. By virtue of being Black, she is immune from Doom Blade and Hideous End (and Executioner’s Capsule if anyone happens to be playing it). By virtue of having Protection from White, she is immune from Path to Exile and any other targeted White removal. By virtue of having a toughness of four, she is immune to Lightning Bolt. That makes her immune to all of the best removal spells in the format. Throw in the fact that she is a Vampire, and we will be including her as a four-of in our main deck. Bloodghast looks very interesting, and could possibly help in an aggressive deck though might also be more destined for a control deck. Perhaps we can experiment with that another time. Uncommon
My favourite card in this list is easily Vampire Nighthawk. The design of this card is incredibly elegant and...sexy. Interestingly, I think that this card also belongs in more controlling builds. Gatekeeper of Malakir is also a great card that fits in any Vampire deck – it helps to get around any Protection from Black that might be out there as well. Quest for the Gravelord is an interesting option and could help against board sweepers. Vampire Hexmage is a better card than she first appears. A 2/1 for two mana is not overwhelming, but the first strike ability actually makes her fairly useful. The ability to strip counters from permanents could help against the Zendikar quests (such as Luminarch Ascension) and against Allies. More importantly, though, is that removing all of the counters from a Planeswalker will destroy it! This is good utility that we will include in our first build. Let’s finally consider the Common cards and then put it all together. Common
To compliment the aggressive approach, Vampire Lacerator is an excellent turn one play. Cards like Child of Night and Tendrils of Corruption compliment it by helping to counteract the effects of the Lacerator’s drawback. For removal, we have an embarrassment of riches. For this build, I think that we prefer Hideous End over Doom Blade. The lower cost of Doom Blade is attractive but Hideous End just compliments our strategy so well that we should look to that as a first choice. A lot of people are playing Disfigure, and that may ultimately be the right choice, but Hideous End looked very strong at the pre-release, and I want to give it a test drive. Both Duress and Sign in Blood are options here. I’m going to try Sign in Blood but could return to Duress as early disruption in future. Here’s my first version of the aggressive Vampire tribe:
Putting it to the Test
Vampires defeated Soldiers in six out of ten games. In those wins, the most relevant factors were the life gain of the Black deck and the ability of Malakir Bloodwitch to pretty much shut down the White deck. These factors combined gave Vampires the advantage if the game went long. When White won, it was from large chunks of damage in the early turns and, when Black was beginning to stabilise, the ability to drop six tokens on the table – a play that is savage with Honor of the Pure also on the table. Soldiers, as a deck, needs a way to deal with something like Malakir Bloodwitch. It would also seriously benefit from an ability to reload earlier in the game and with more consistency than just two copies of Conqueror’s Pledge can provide. I don’t really want more copies of the Pledge because I think that Honor of the Pure is a key factor to the overall strategy as well. Something like Spectral Procession would, of course, be ideal. However, I’m not yet sure what would fill either of these roles in the current Standard environment. I’ll be looking for answers in the near future, and would appreciate any suggestions in the forums. Kor Aeronaut proved quite useful, and while I’d like to try out Kazandu Blademaster, I don’t think that it can displace any of the Uncommon selections already in the deck. As for Vampires, the deck worked quite well. Quest for the Gravelord was an interesting option, though all four times that I created a 5/5 token, it was killed before it ever dealt damage. Still, it’s a 5/5 for one mana (essentially with suspend), and I expect it to be good against board sweepers, so it will stay for now. I liked Hideous End, and while Disfigure should be great in this matchup, I felt like the removal that I had was powerful for my strategy. Vampire Nocturnus wasn’t too bad, but also not always spectacular. I suppose with more copies and some fetchlands to trigger deck shuffling it could be more effective. I’m not sure that this is a good enough reason to play Terramorphic Expanse in a mono-coloured deck. The only real disappointment was Vampire Hexmage. While she has her uses, I couldn’t help but think that it would be much better to have Vampire Nighthawk in her place. This would somewhat affect the mana curve of the deck, and could force a move to Disfigure, but I definitely want to try it out. I did win one game with Sign in Blood targeting the opponent, but I can’t decide whether I’d rather have the card draw or something like Duress in this deck. I imagine I’ll give both a try. Conclusion This was a fun experiment, and I’m glad that I was able to get these decks built and tested. From here, I’d like to continue exploring other deck possibilities and see how they stack up to the updated versions of these two decks. I’d love to get your feedback on these decks in the forums and any suggestions you have to improve them within the limitations of the Merchant Magic format. If you’ve tried these decks out, let me know how you enjoyed them. Until next time,
You can discuss this article in the MDV forums
here.
Articles
Spotlights from 2009: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
One
of the time-honoured deck templates in Magic is that of White Weenie. The recent
stampede of the Kithkin tribe had us looking at the archetype from a slightly
different Tribal perspective. However, the little guys have marched off over the
horizon, and it’s time for some new little dudes, and even a classic, to step
into the limelight and fill their tiny shoes. 
One
of the things that you look for are cards that can form the centrepiece of your
deck’s strategy. These are the build-around-me rares. Honor of the Pure is not
coy about suggesting what other cards you should put in your deck: White
creatures, and lots of them. Pumping all of your creatures – permanently – for
two mana is a great deal. It’s expensive to buy because it’s tournament
playable, though at the time of writing it’s significantly cheaper if you’re
playing on MTGO. If you’ve picked up the M10 Intro Pack entitled We Are Legion
then you’ll find one copy in there.
Soldiers
(White Weenie).
The
release of M10 foreshadowed the coming of the Vampire tribe and Zendikar has
delivered with a plethora of interesting creatures that are just plain fun to
play with. It seems like there are a couple of ways to build a Vampire deck, one
very fast and aggressive and one more controlling. The aggressive approach takes
some of its cues from Suicide Black decks of the past. For now, let’s take a
look at the aggressive version and perhaps we’ll get a chance to return to the
controlling version another time.
Vampires!
(Suicide Black).
To
test the two decks, I played a set of ten games. Keep in mind that at this
point, I am not building the decks with a metagame in mind. Therefore there are
no sideboards, and the decks were not specifically built to defeat one another.
That being said, the protection from White available to the Vampires is an
obvious advantage in the matchup.