May Update and 3 possible decks for regionals

By Jim Marlow

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of content going up over the last few days, but its a busy time at university, im sure for all of us, so im doing as much as i can while i have a few spare minutes. Just to let everyone who has ordered a Team Leeds t-shirt that the supplier emailed me over a week ago saying they would be delivered last week, which obviously they were not. I have since emailed him to ask for an explanation and will pass any information on as soon as i get it, but keep your fingers crossed for them arriving before wednesday.

Yay me at coming 1st on tie-breakers at this weeks WNM, which was block constructed. Some very last minute changes lead to my naya zoo type deck being pretty good, and certainly a fair amount of late game banefire rips didnt do any harm either (sorry all opponants, i am a savage lucksack)

Trumpet blowing aside, there is still a long exciting season of nationals qualifiers ahead of us, and so far Team Leeds has a little way to go, because based on the ability of the players i would expect at least half a dozen players to qualify for nationals this year, and certainly 2 or 3 have a good chance to have a crack at a top place.

Alara reborn is obviously going to rattle some cages in the top decks department, and this could prove useful if we can get ahead of the curve on the best decks around.

Over the last few days i have been looking through some decks, trying to figure something new out, and eventually have made 3 decklists up which i think look strong considering the current metagame. I am currently playing jund ramp, which is one of my 3 lists, but i am strongly considering switching to one of the others, or playing all 3 at different qualifiers. Please have a look and see what you think.

1) Jund ramp

4 x kitchen finks
4 x broodmate dragon
2 x chameleon colossus
2 x cloudthresher

4 x rampant growth
4 x fertile ground
4 x volcanic fallout
2 x jund charm
3 x maelstrom pulse
3 x garruk wildspeaker
2 x primal command
2 x banefire
1 x loxodon warhammer

23 land

S/b
2 x cloudthresher
4 x anathemancer
2 x makeshift mannequin
2 x firespout
4 x deathmark
1 x primal command

I would probably take a 4th primal command and possibly swap this in the side for the 4th anathemancer if i see a lot of red around the room.

I really like this deck because broodmate is simply put the best finisher in T2 right now, and he seems pretty strong turn 4, possibly with overrun threatening next turn.

2) G/B Elves!

4 x llanowar elves
4 x wren’s run vanquisher
4 x wolf skull shaman
4 x wilt leaf liege
4 x civic wayfinder
2 x cloudthresher

3 x maelstrom pulse
3 x eyeblights ending
4 x thoughtseize
2 x garruk wildspeaker
3 x profane command
1 x loxodon warhammer

23 land

s/b
4 x kitchen finks
2 x cloudthresher
3 x infest
4 x deathmark
2 x primal command

Woot, elves is back. I love elves because it was the first ever deck i played, which is awesome. Once again, this deck has a huge amount of raw power and the possibility of having a ridiculous team in the early turns, whilst still being able to deal with opposing hoards (maelstrom pulse is nuts!)

3) B/R control

4 x stillmoon cavalier
4 x goblin outlander
4 x fulminator mage
4 x figure of destiny

4 x blightning
4 x thoughtseize
4 x rain of tears
3 x terminate
3 x bituminous blast
3 x volcanic fallout
1 x loxodon warhammer

23 land

S/b
4 x anathemancer
3 x thought haemorrhage
2 x makeshift mannequin
1 x volcanic fallout
3 x infest
1 x terminate
1 x loxodon warhammer

I think this deck has the potential to be a strong contender. Although the blightning aggro decks are out there, there isnt currently anything like this in the format, and i think the element of surprise combined with some extremely potent cards in the current standard environment (stillmoon cavalier, outlander) i think the deck could certainly compete. As is, the deck has elements of controlling the aggressive decks and disrupting the control ones, which im not sure is right, or whether to go fully one way or the other.


So those are 3 decks i am considering playing in an effort to get to nationals, which one, if any, do you guys think will give me the best chance of getting there?

Also, if anyone hadnt noticed, all of them have 23 lands, 61 cards (inc 1 noobhammer) and have ZERO blue cards between them, leading me to think that i am very ill, and should probably just play some faeries to make it better.

Ill see everyone on wednesday for my first taste of Alara Reborn cards, and everyones first go and S/C/A drafting,

Until then,


Jim

As always, feel free to comment on anything about this article, or anything unrelated to magic whatsoever. If you would like to contribute to the TLM blog, please email any ideas, articles, pictures or anything else to ss07jm@leeds.ac.uk