Hello, everyone! It’s been a pretty rough month for me, but I’ve managed to weather The Roil and bring you this final installment of Testing: One, Two, Three for the month of February!
Zendikar Block Constructed has been a rather cruel mistress for the past month. With no clear best deck in the format (coughJundcough), any game could be a tossup. Luckily, I was able to pilot every deck to a pretty good record, as evidenced by the lovely coverage you all were able to see. In this installment, I will be revisiting the decklists for the month, as well as showing the suggestions I have for the decks, now that Worldwake has hit Magic Online.
Kor Armory
First up is what came to be my signature deck for a few months. This deck just runs out a couple of good threats with equipment, and instead of overrunning the opponent, grinds out a win.
Kor Armory
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I know everyone has heard me sing the praises of this deck for the past few months, but I think it’s getting to be time to hang this one up, folks. People have started packing hate in their sideboards, which completely kills the reason the deck was good in the first place. Not much changing of the decklist occurred, aside from slight tweaks to numbers.
The biggest problem with this deck is that if you haven’t killed an opponent by the time they stabilize, it gets more difficult to win with each passing turn, and if a Vampires player keeps a hand with double Gatekeeper of Malakir and a little extra spot removal, winning this game is almost impossible, especially on the draw. The deck has no bad matchups, but every matchup is also far from a bye.
Now on to Worldwake. This deck may still be viable if it takes slightly more of a control route. One deck that I really like that functions in a very similar way can be found here. Craig Wescoe’s Tricked out White Weenie Deck from Pro Tour San Diego. Using Stoneforge Mystic as an equipment tutor, on a warm body to carry it seems like it may help another one of the big problems with this deck – Drawing into equipments to apply pressure. I’m not sure if I’m entirely sold on Basilisk Collar in the deck – maybe as a one-of. The concept of Lifelink and Deathtouch on a Kor Duelist is enough to make anyone drool. While Marshalls Anthem seems like a very cute card, it would require tweaking the manabase quite a bit, since this deck rarely even gets to four mana.
While I was a huge fan of this deck for months, I think it may be best to see how the metagame shapes up before we pick this archetype back up. It may be best revisited with a couple of Day of Judgments in the main, and played as Aggro-Control.
Green/Red Valakut
Over the course of this month, while testing these decks, I ended up falling in love with this one. Maybe it was the fact that I was playing Gerry Thompson’s Dark Depths/Thopter Sword deck for a month to test for MOCS Season 1 (Which I only managed to X-3, for those interested), but I’ve started to really like playing Combo decks. The reason I liked this version was because it didn’t solely rely on getting Valakut and six Mountains, but won plenty of games with an all-in Plated Geopede.
Valakut
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One of my favorite things about this deck is that it didn’t outright lose to Speading Seas. Blue/White Control had the potential to be a very bad matchup if they drew their Spreading Seas and Journey to Nowhere early. The biggest change to the deck in light of this was Hellkite Charger. This card was a superstar in the deck, since it came out of nowhere for a surprise 5 damage, and if unanswered for one turn, came through for 10 or more damage, and completely sealed the game. Another amazing thing about this card was the fact that it doesn’t die to your own Lavaball Traps, so you can continue to bash through for damage while wreaking havoc on their entire board.
Rampaging Baloths got mostly pushed to the sideboard, and are on their way out of the deck. The trample is nice, but the Double-Green cost is not. over the course of testing, I have realized that if you have more than one Forest out at any time, you are likely doing something wrong. The sole purpose of the one forest is to cast one mana ramp spell per turn until Valakut can start triggering. Having to divert from your primary win condition to focus on your secondary win condition is a very bad idea.
I’m still completely sold on the land destruction sideboard strategy for the Blue/White and mirror matches. Keeping these opponents off their mana will win you 100% of your games, which brings us to Worldwake – Roiling Terrain is amazing. Having a land destruction spell coupled with a burn spell, especially since there are TWEVLE land destruction spells in the deck (Not to mention fetchlands). This card is going to completely replace Mold Shambler.
Post Worldwake, this seems like it would be best to go back to a creatureless deck. Explore is going to be our Rampant Growth, and late game can at least cantrip. With all of this mana generation, I believe it would be a sin to not include something as amazing as Comet Storm. It’s always going to kill one creature, and deal a ton of damage to the opponent’s face, and at the very worst, it’s going to be played at End of Turn to eat up a countersell for even more important spells during the next Main Phase. Finally, Ricochet Trap is going to be amazing for the Blue/White Matchup. This card’s trap cost makes it a strictly better Gutteral Response, which will prove to be amazing in a deck as fragile as this can be.
Blue/White Control
This deck is still the deck to beat. While it’s not the clear “best deck,” the mere fact that it exists means some good potential rogue decks can’t. If you want to build a deck, this is the hurdle it has to pass.
Blue/White Control
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This deck simply has everything needed to beat any flavor of deck. Day of Judgment, Into the Roil, and Journey to Nowhere punish Aggro decks, especially if they try to overcommit. Spreading Seas, Cance, and Spell Pierce all do their part to kill Combo, as well. The reason I like this list is because it focuses a lot on getting Luminarch Ascension active – and does an amazing job of it. While some lists use Emeria Angel or Conquerors Pledge as their token engine, Luminarch Ascension is the best token engine in the format, especially since most decks don’t have Game 1 hate for it.
There have been no real changes to the deck over the course of the month, because I don’t think there is anything worth changing. The deck functions so well as it is, and I’m fully convinced that this is the perfect list for Block Constructed Pre-Worldwake. However, this is also the deck that will benefit the most from Worldwake. Jace, the Mind Sculptor pushes the power level of this deck through the roof. Patrick Chapin described Jace perfectly, saying “Once you look at the top card [of their deck] and let them keep it, it’s pretty much over.” I think this card will be the new primary win condition for Blue/White Control.
As far as other Worldwake goodies, Celestial Colonnade has to be number two. So far, the mirror match has no way to answer activated man lands – the only instant speed removal is Into the Roil, which doesn’t hit lands. This card will completely crack an unprepared mirror match wide open. Treasure Hunt is also a card I’m really excited to start playtesting. A deck like this needs as many lands as it can possibly get, so drawing an average of about 1.7 cards for two mana, as well as being guaranteed a spell seems amazing. Luckily for other decks, it will probably replace Spreading Seas as their two-mana cantrip of choice. And, finally, a card on the fringe of being great will be Everflowing Chalice. Having a Mind Stone or Ur-Golems Eye, or getting a turn 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor may just make this deck the best deck in Zendikar Block Constructed.
Zen and the Art of Reflection
And that wraps up another month of Testing: One, Two, Three. Unfortunately, it’s still impossible to tell which deck is the best in Zendikar Block Constructed, but with the introduction of Worldwake, a winner will likely emerge in the coming weeks. Will Stoneforge Mystic or Comet Storm be enough to take down Jace? Or will everyone be having their minds sculpted for the rest of the Block Season? Maybe the Allies have had the push they needed to become a respectable metagame deck, or a rogue deck will completely blow everyone out of the water.
Be sure to stay tuned next month when I cover another fledgling format that’s important to everyone, and will likely include Cunning Sparkmages, Basilisk Collars, and Rangers of Eos. Until next month, have fun with your testing, and as always…
…See you in the queues!
~Rhythmik