Zen and the Art of Deckbuilding: Kor Armory

Epiphanies

Since playing with this deck, I have decided on a few small changes – both to the main deck, and the board. After a week or so, I’ve settled on this build, which still seems to be a working list.

Kor Armory Redux piloted by Rhythmik (3-1) Zen Block Daily Event

Creatures (27) 4 Armament Master 4 Kor Aeronaut 3 Kor Duelist 4 Kor Hookmaster 2 Kor Outfitter 4 Kor Skyfisher 4 Steppe Lynx 2 Devout Lightcaster Other Spells (13) 3 Adventuring Gear 4 Brave the Elements 3 Journey to Nowhere 3 Trusty Machete Lands (20) 3 Arid Mesa 4 Marsh Flats 13 Plains Sideboard (15) 3 Blazing Torch 2 Devout Lightcaster 3 Kor Sanctifiers 3 Luminarch Ascension 2 Pitfall Trap 2 Day Of Judgment

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Brave the Elements is just to good to not be a four-of, and the same goes for Armament Master. I’m never unhappy to see either of those cards in my hand. One Sanctifiers and one Blazing Torch were both taken out of the sideboard for Day of Judgment. The reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, I never found myself boarding in more the three each of either of those cards. Finding things to board out for them was very difficult. Also, the deck needs the reset button against Vampires when they land Malakir Bloodwitch. After Bloodwitch hits the board, the plan before was to outrace with equipped Lightcasters or swing through with Brave the Elements for the win. While this is very effective, it’s unreliable. Day of Judgment just gives us hoser 12 and 13 for the second most aggressive deck in the format.

Bring Out the Bad, Bring in the Good

Blue/White Control. This is likely your hardest matchup. They have tons of things to slow your tempo to a crawl – Journey to Nowhere, Into the Roil, Day of Judgment. Even their come into play tapped lands are a huge headache for Aggro players. The strategy for this matchup is to land cheap aggressive creatures and grind out a win, without overextending into Day of Judgment. Steppe Lynx is your best weapon here, followed by an equipped Kor Duelist. If you can force an opponent to use Day of Judgment as a one-for-one, you are in amazing shape. The best you can really do is hope the Control player draws a bad mix of land and spells.

Sideboard +3 Luminarch Ascension +3 Kor Sanctifiers -3 Journey to Nowhere -2 Devout Lightcaster -1 Kor Hookmaster.

Landing Turn two Luminarch Ascensions is amazing. It forces the opponent to either focus on your creatures or the Ascension, a struggle they will be hard-pressed to win. Journey to Nowhere gets the boot here since many lists only run Sphinx of Lost Truths as a viable target, now. Kor Sanctifiers come in to deal with Journey to Nowhere and the odd list that brings or keeps in Luminarch Ascension (yes, I’ve had it happen, and had them get to four counters.) Devout Lightcasters with get the boot in pretty much every Non-Vampires matchup, simply because a Gray Ogre is significantly below the power curve, and a single Hookmaster also takes the bench simply to preserve the mana curve of the deck.

Vampires. This matchup is about 50/50 on game one, with an extra 20% going to the person that wins the die-roll. The two main deck Devout Lightcasters are to help tip the scales a bit in your favor. The strategy with exiling creatures is much different than it is in Blue/White Control. Instead of exiling Bloodghasts, focus first on Vampire Nighthawks, then on Gatekeeper of Malakir. This not only gets blockers out of the way, but since most lists run Grim Discovery now, exiling a Gatekeeper of Malakir is much better than killing it through combat.

Sideboard +2 Devout Lightcaster +3 Blazing Torch +2 Day of Judgment -3 Kor Hookmaster -1 Kor Aeronaut -3 Adventuring Gear.

Blazing Torch seems much better in this matchup than Adventuring Gear. The unblockablity of big creatures as well as having reach and removal for mid/late game is much better than +2/+2, especially when most lists board in tons of removal. Kor Hookmaster functions relatively the same as Devout Lightcaster, so one heads to the side, and one Aeronaut is cut since it typically dies to Disfigure, anyway. Day of Judgment is typically an emergency reset button if things get too hairy. If you can get a Trusty Machete on a Devout Lightcaster – putting it out of range of Marsh Casualties – you can usually win the game pretty convincingly.

Valakut. This is going to be your easiest Game One, provided they don’t main deck Grazing Gladeheart, which most lists don’t. Just keep playing creatures and turning them sideways until you can grind out a win. If you can hold a Brave the Elements for any removal, you should be fine before they get a chance to drop Rampaging Baloths.

Sideboard -2 Devout Lightcaster +2 Kor Sanctifiers.

The sideboard for this matchup up is pretty rough. If they are playing Geopedes or switch to Aggro, board in the Pitfall Traps as well. Kor Sanctifiers aren’t exactly good in this matchup, but are better than Lightcaster. You typically don’t want to kick Sanctifiers, especially if you have equipment out. The Valakut player will just sac any artifacts or enchantments they have out and force you to kill one of your own equipment. Also, if your opponent leaves 3RR open, try not to play a land and crack a fetch on the same turn, unless you have Brave the Elements, or are otherwise able to play around Lavaball Trap.

Mirror. The Mirror typically comes down to who can get early beats and get Brave the Elements with lethal damage on board. Take the same stance in this matchup as you would against Blue/White Control. Hit hard, and hit early, since I’ve ended mirror matches on Turn Four on the play.

Sideboard -2 Devout Lightcaster -3 Journey to Nowhere +2 Pitfall Trap +3 Kor Sanctifiers.

Journey comes out and is replaced with Pitfall Trap, since the traps have similar functionality, and can snare a Turn One Steppe Lynx on the draw. Pitfall Trap also doesn’t have the glaring downside that Journey has if the opponent is holding Brave the Elements. Kor Sanctifiers typically always have a target, and are lovely when targeting an opponent’s Journey to Nowhere. vI’ve even had situations where an opponent played Journey on two of my Kor Skyfishers, so I was able to destroy his Journey, Skyfisher the Sanctifiers back to my hand, repeat the next turn, and kill an equipment a turn later.

Reflections

All things considered, I believe this has the potential to be the best deck in the format, especially after looking at a few spoilers from Worldwake. The nuts hands from this deck can defeat any deck easily. One thing to keep in mind is that you are going to need to keep different hands against different matchups. This is by far the most fun deck I have played in Block so far, and I will continue to play it until the format changes to a point where I can’t win anymore. I encourage you to try this deck out for yourself. The average cost for this deck is about 40 Tickets, but unlike the decks I covered at the beginning of the month, the fetch lands are not optional. With a deck like this that abuses the landfall mechanic, and needs to draw as much gas as possible, not having fetch lands completely kills your tempo and ability to filter out lands. If you know your matchups, board accordingly, and play as tight as possible, you can go infinite with this deck, too! Good luck in your next 2-man, 8-man, Daily or Premier Event, and as always…

See You in the Queues!

Rhythmik