Red is good, but not for werewolves.
The red cards printed for wolves are almost all double red, and the best one is better suited for mono red. (Scourge Wolf)
I feel a tri color deck is definitely possible in this format, but it would run like a control deck with something like Reality Smasher in it.
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The red mage lives by the variance and dies by the variance. May the variance be with you, always.
4 Village Messenger
4 Kessig Forgemaster
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Silverfur Partisan
3 Scourge Wolf
4 Geier Reach Bandit
4 Ember-Eye Wolf
Planeswalker
2 Arlinn Kord
Enchantment
4 Howlpack Resurgence
Instants
4 Collected Company
I did have Atarka's command in place of Company and tied for 1st at a FNM
did not preform well at state so I added company
The deck Started with the Zada Combo in but hitting it was too unreliable although really fun to see your opponents eyes go wide when have of 40+ points of damage coming down on them.
I took it to FNM last week and went against the following match-ups
BUG Control
GW Token
UG Investigate/Mill
First match - BUG CONTROL 2-1
Early on, i was able to drop Village Messenger and Recruiter on the first and second turn. He literally gave me free transformations as he didn't do anything for the first three turns. BY turn 3, I drew Silverfur and popped an expedite to produce a 2/2 token. Come late game, I had Zada and Silverfur with 3 wolves out and Arlinn. One Titan's Strength sent everything into overdrive.
GW Token - 1-2
This one was a close match. the only problem was Dromoka's Command as it removed my Howlpack Resurgence early so my creatures just died to the tokens. I had no answer to the tokens. Radiant Flame will be a possible sideboard.
UG Investigate/Mill - 2-0
This one was a one-sided match as I did so much damage for the first three turns. The first game, I dropped Village messenger for 1 damage. then turn 2, transformed, attacked and dropped Titan's strength for 5 damage. opponent down to 14HP. Turn three, I drew another Titan's strength and I dropped two of them on Village Messenger for 8 damage. At the end of the turn, i transformed. The game stalled for two turns but I managed to wither his life away.
Possible notes:
Arlinn is hit or miss, and may need some other planeswalker support like Nissa, Voice of Zendikar for the counters. Removals like Radiant Flame and Moonlight Hunt are going on the sideboard as well. Exquisite Firecraft for the reach...
This is a hyper aggro CoCo wolves, inspired by a combination of BG Elves, Bant Company, and Mono White.
The goal is simple. Flood out the board with your wolves. Do some damage, then transition to the late game with a dominated board.
Beastcaller Savant is utilized for acceleration, though one could argue the use of [[Cryptolith Rite]] but the creature bonus of Savant is too good to pass on to with Nissa around.
Cast CoCo for defense or for sudden burst of wolves on the board. And [[Radiant Flames]] for a board wipe of 2 damage. It's not much, but it's going to clear a lot of tokens, humans, and elves too...
I ike using the walkers to help with the board presence and nissa helps boost. I also like the flash enchant we have, and the instant combat tricks are awesome I also think skin invasion is a wonderful card to make them attack with their mana dorks or defenders or something as we can usually kill something small or annoying and then get a beast out of it
OK, here are my very amateur thoughts on this deck.
I went into SOI assuming I wanted to play humans, but I've really fallen in love with RG Werewolves. At first it was Howlpack Resurgence and Pack Guardian that got my attention. The chance to play at instant speed is too powerful to ignore. A lot of wins are going to come from early pressure followed by a large trampling attack they didn't expect.
Lambholt Pacifist has been a much better performer than I thought. All it takes is one Resurgence and you've got a 4/4 for 2. A resurgence and a flip and you've got something out of Languish range, which is huge. Atarka's Command is a card that you might miss if you are focused on the wolf theme, but it's too good to leave out.
The obviously good cards are Duskwatch Recruiter Great for waiting until you've got 5-mana to play if you've got other 2-drops or don't need to build the board out immediately. Against slower decks, if you can flip it turn 2, you can dump your hand in disgusting ways on turn 3. Arlinn Kord is a perfectly cromulent planeswalker that does all the things you want a planeswalker to do: Protects itself immediately, provides advantage every turn it's alive, threatens to take over the game. Moonlight Hunt is fine for removal. It can get hosed sometimes and won't turn matches for you, but what do you want for 2 CMC and instant speed?
The biggest problem slot is 3-drop creatures. There's a lot of options, but I'm not in love with any of them except Geier Reach Bandit. The rest are all disappointing. Hermit of the Natterknolls doesn't give you enough presence to be a threat, and your opponent can just shrug and stop playing on your turn. Ulrich's Kindred's ability is just too expensive. Silverfur Partisan is just a big trap that looks way better than it is. 2/2 for your three-drop is a big problem. Trample isn't much of a payoff because you should be giving things trample from other effects anyway. There's a ton of non-targeted removal going around, and you don't want to be playing cards that target it yourself because that's warping your deck too much just to get some wolf tokens. I've just started trying Breakneck Rider, we'll see how that goes.
The trample makes it seem like it'd be fun to play with Uncaged Fury or other combat tricks, but there's just not room after you put in all the other stuff the deck needs.
Not close to fully tuned yet, but I like it a lot better than when I started working with it. I'm not sure if I want the full four Arlinn when I'm only at 21 creatures.
Beastcaller Savant helps ramp things up.
Neglected Heirloom keeps your creatures fat and that fat creature can become a primer for Chandra's Ignition... Whew! Board wipe you say?
Howlpack Resurgence gives me the boost to survive languish and other burns while keeping me on the offensive.
OK, you guys are right. Village Messenger does some good work. It helps lower the curve, replaces some 3-drops that weren't doing anything good (looking at you, Hermit). The haste is crucial for surprise alpha strikes. The deck I posted above was kind of caught between being aggro and mid-range.
I'm a little confused as to why Collected Company is a must-include (not saying I disagree, smarter players than me seem to think so). It doesn't seem strictly better for this deck than Pack Guardian.
PG cons: Requires the fifth land in hand to get full value, double-green casting cost could occasionally be a problem. Creatures it produces aren't werewolves and can never flip to become better.
PG pros: Always pulls a 4/3 and a 2/2, which on average is going to be more sudden power on the board than CC will hit in these decks. Will never surprise half-whiff.
Unless I'm underestimating the problem of the fifth land, that seems pretty even.
Turn 1 Wolf.
Turn 2 Wolf.
Turn 3 Geier Reach Bandit.
Turn 4 Pass and Flip.
Turn 4.5 CoCo, Get two wolves that auto flip.
Turn 5 Anything and swing,
I'm not a fan because I think Howlpack Resourgence is the best tribal support we have. Flash Anthems are amazing. That and removal lower the creature below what I feel is required for CoCo to be consistant. A lot of players play Arlinn, which don't disagree with (it's not tribal, just good,) and that makes CoCo even worse.
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Lycanthropy Awareness Day.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Im having good luck with this deck right now. It seems the archtypes for wolves, are Aggro, CoCo and Silverfur. This one is an instant silverfur deck that works with aggro and cheap combat tricks
Howlpack Resurgence. You don't really need more than 1 of this effect. Drawing 2 is basically a deathknell when the deck is largely about trying to avoid your opponent 1-for-1'ing you until they stick a walker.
Maybe this deck needs some evasion in Akoum Firebird or Thunderbreak Regent. Firebird sounds excellent since it avoids a lot of the 1-for-1s that end up killing you. It pressures walkers and lets you do something with excess mana. However, it's bad vs. Avacyn. Bummer.
Spent the weekend grinding on MTGO with the list I posted above, friendly leagues and queues, ended up better than .500 overall, but not by much. As everyone already knew, this isn't a top-tier deck, but it's nice that it isn't completely dead against them. I think there's still plenty of improvements to be made while we wait and dream of EDM rounding out the tribe. Every time I fiddle with it, it gets redder and more aggro-y. I'm going to try some Scourge Wolf and even experiment with moving the Moonlight Hunt to the sideboard in exchange for some Exquisite Firecraft. I'll look into some of those big red fliers suggested above.
The ultimate downfall of this deck that it just folds on the draw against control unless they play it badly. I've won a couple against Esper control underestimating just how much damage this deck can surprise pump through in one turn, but otherwise you're just gonna have a bad time getting 1-for-1'd with their removal spells forever. Pack Guardian can help with this matchup because it can kill a minused Sorin immediately, but it's not usually enough.
The matchup vs. mono-white humans isn't bad at all. Trample trumps tiny chumpers, and Lambholt Pacifist and Kessig Forgemaster holds them back pretty well. WU humans is tougher, Reflector Mage is super bad for us.
On paper, B/G Aristocrats is bad for us. We're basically never hitting our draw step with a flipped werewolf. In practice, it's not that bad because so many people are playing that deck that don't know how to play it.
Underdogs to Jund but not prohibitively so, you just need to get some creatures out of burn range quickly to blank half their removal.
The best matchup in the current main meta is easily Goggles. We can get guys out of burn range quickly and beat their face before they have time to get going, and RG has access to great anti-artifact sideboarding. Non-goggles RG Ramp is a lot tougher, you *need* to have Atarka's Command in hand and up to stop them from gaining 7 off Nissa's Renewal.
I consider the explosion of the budget Mono-blue Brains deck to be fortuitous, because that's an amazing matchup for us. Our creatures can get big enough to dodge Engulf the Shores early, and Arlinn Kord just wrecks this matchup.
I'm seriously looking at Duskwatch Recruiter and wondering if it belongs after all. It seems amazing at first glance and lots of decks want it. But it might not be what a RG werewolves aggro deck wants. If you've got five mana up to play him and lock in his front-side ability, and you really need to hit those creatures, the game's already gone longer than you want and he's just helping you lose less. And his back-side ability lets you dump your hand to win, but if you are dumping your hand it means a) you aren't afraid of board wipes and b) you've got lots of creatures to play, so he's a little win-more.
I was pursuing some lists and came upon, this that I will be trying out in Game Day tomorrow! Would love the get your thoughts on it, love the synergy it brings.
Spent the weekend grinding on MTGO with the list I posted above, friendly leagues and queues, ended up better than .500 overall, but not by much. As everyone already knew, this isn't a top-tier deck, but it's nice that it isn't completely dead against them. I think there's still plenty of improvements to be made while we wait and dream of EDM rounding out the tribe. Every time I fiddle with it, it gets redder and more aggro-y. I'm going to try some Scourge Wolf and even experiment with moving the Moonlight Hunt to the sideboard in exchange for some Exquisite Firecraft. I'll look into some of those big red fliers suggested above.
Yeah. Moonlight Hunt is real bad. It's sweet that it's instant speed vs. Avacyn but that's just about it. People are pretty loose about their life totals in this format, so Firecraft can do some real work, especially when you're 1-3 drops did most of the work but you need a way to get around their vigilant 4/4s while they bash you for 4 every turn.
The ultimate downfall of this deck that it just folds on the draw against control unless they play it badly. I've won a couple against Esper control underestimating just how much damage this deck can surprise pump through in one turn, but otherwise you're just gonna have a bad time getting 1-for-1'd with their removal spells forever. Pack Guardian can help with this matchup because it can kill a minused Sorin immediately, but it's not usually enough.
I agree here. I think the trick is to find more threats outside of Werewolves that are resilient. Obvious ones include cards like Silverfur Partisan and Pack Guardian (though Guardian requires extra lands to be efficient on curve). More outside of the box would be beaters like Akoum Firebird or Servant of the Scale. Another card I've considered is Insolent Neonate, which is not the most ridiculous card to something like Languish or Radiant Flames. If exile weren't everywhere, I'd solve this problem by just jamming 4x Infectious Bloodlust but alas. Den Protector also fits the bill (and plays well with Arlinn) -- but everyone knows that card. I've played with Raptor in said builds and it's too slow.
Another solution is to get rid of cards that are ridiculous against 1-for-1 control decks -- cards like Lambholt Pacifist. I solved this problem by just playing Sylvan Advocate instead. It's a 2/3 that becomes a 4/5 *shrugs*. Here, against the 1-for-1 control decks, Duskwatch Recruiter shines.
I'm seriously looking at Duskwatch Recruiter and wondering if it belongs after all. It seems amazing at first glance and lots of decks want it. But it might not be what a RG werewolves aggro deck wants. If you've got five mana up to play him and lock in his front-side ability, and you really need to hit those creatures, the game's already gone longer than you want and he's just helping you lose less. And his back-side ability lets you dump your hand to win, but if you are dumping your hand it means a) you aren't afraid of board wipes and b) you've got lots of creatures to play, so he's a little win-more.
Yea, I don't disagree here. I wish we had more flash creatures to take advantage of this. Alternatively, you can try and fit more resilient beaters to play off of him. I'm jamming him since I just don't know what else to play. In the aggressive beatdown lists, Kessig Forgemaster wins the two-drop slot by a mile. "Nice soldier tokens brah. You're blocking with 2 of them in an attempt to play around A-Command? Great. They all die."
Trading a flipped Kessig Forgemaster with Howlpack Resurgence out for something with six toughness is pure feels good.
And can confirm that the "opponent didn't read card" value is super real. Best example came last night against Mono U Brains with TiTi. I've got four creatures on the board including two flipped Forgemasters and a Howlpack out, full 20 life, and the mana and cards to play two more creatures in second main. Opponent has Awoken Horror and 13 zombie tokens to protect his 5 life. I swing with everything and hope to draw some burn next turn. Opponent puts the awoken horror on something else and each flipped forgemaster gets to blow up three zombie tokens then trample through for a total of 8.
Side note that I'm sure I'm not the only one to not notice: Scourge Wolf is a horror and doesn't get bounced by TiTi.
One of the fun things about this deck is that avacyn flashing in isn't a huge problem. If I'm swinging with everything into five open mana against white, the game had better be in trample+burn range anyway.
Side note that I'm sure I'm not the only one to not notice: Scourge Wolf is a horror and doesn't get bounced by TiTi.
One of the fun things about this deck is that avacyn flashing in isn't a huge problem. If I'm swinging with everything into five open mana against white, the game had better be in trample+burn range anyway.
I'm not sure that this deck cares too much about TiTi. It's just a derpy 0/4. If the game goes long you can just have Rending Volley for the presumed Jace in their list (unless they're budget, in that case leave it in the SB).
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I also agree with the "swing into 5 open mana" thing. With Rush of Adrenaline and Exquisite Firecraft, you can usually get there with your beaters. Howlpack Resurgence is dope but I've gotten away from as many wolves as I've had before.
Still, if they've played some beaters you've had to work around, it can be a bit of a problem. Sometimes you just don't have 1drop-2drop-3drop nut draws. Personally, I'm on 4x Firecraft so if I've lived the entire turn cycle I can just take it out on my 1st mainphase. Sometimes they then have the 2nd but thems the beats. Rending Volley is a great SB card.
The way I approached tweaking my deck to keep up with the Tier 1 netdecks was to simply play to its strengths = Red for Removal, Green for Massive Big-Bootied Creatures.
Match details below:
There were 4 rounds swiss.
1st match - GW Tokens (2-1)
The MVP: Lambholt Pacifist Flip + Neglected Heirloom
For the life of me, I wanted to run with village messenger plus heirloom but on the first draw, I got 2 Pacifists and drew out a Heirloom on the 2nd round. By the third round, I equipped the Heirloom on the Pacifist for a 4/4 body. Swung for 4.
The next turn, she transformed for a 7/7 first strike. My opponent was
and had no answer for her except to flip her back again. I equipped the wolves with heirloom. He swarmed with tokens, but I killed them easily.
Pretty much, every time I won, Lambholt Pacifist was there. I lost the second round because I mulligan'ed due to no lands and ended up with one land on the mulligan. would've gone for 5 but at that point it was pointless so i just ran with it.
the third round was close, but i took control of things late game when Pacifist came out and just stayed on the defensive. Duskbreak Recruiter's ability for a cheap CoCo-ish trigger helped me filter through the stack easily. I killed his planeswalkers every chance I could get and forced him to trade with my big booty creatures.
Game 2: Naya Tokens (Seriously, what is up with tokens?) (0-2)
This was bad. really bad. I was not able to get my creatures out immediately for both matches. I was able to stall for a bit by burning the Planeswalkers but it just wasn't enough.
Second round, he had a nasty Radiant Flames and Dromoka's Command so Howlpack Resurgence was gone then Radiant Flames hit.
Game 3 WB Control (1-2)Control decks would've been easy but they're not for this match. The only time I won was with Lambholt Pacifist or Duskbreak Recruiter out and I was able to sift through with the latter.
He just went through my hand and discarded what he could with Thought-Knot + Eldrazi Displacer (yes it was a flicker combo)...
Game 4 GW Tokens (2-0) Seriously! I felt that this match, I had more control as I came out from the third match with the right mainboard for GW Tokens. I killed off his planeswalkers and forced him to trade bodies. I had 2 Howlpack Resurgence out and I just egged him on to trade with Lambholt, Duskbreak, and a Silverfur.
The way I approached tweaking my deck to keep up with the Tier 1 netdecks was to simply play to its strengths = Red for Removal, Green for Massive Big-Bootied Creatures.
Match details below:
There were 4 rounds swiss.
1st match - GW Tokens (2-1)
The MVP: Lambholt Pacifist Flip + Neglected Heirloom
For the life of me, I wanted to run with village messenger plus heirloom but on the first draw, I got 2 Pacifists and drew out a Heirloom on the 2nd round. By the third round, I equipped the Heirloom on the Pacifist for a 4/4 body. Swung for 4.
The next turn, she transformed for a 7/7 first strike. My opponent was
and had no answer for her except to flip her back again. I equipped the wolves with heirloom. He swarmed with tokens, but I killed them easily.
Pretty much, every time I won, Lambholt Pacifist was there. I lost the second round because I mulligan'ed due to no lands and ended up with one land on the mulligan. would've gone for 5 but at that point it was pointless so i just ran with it.
the third round was close, but i took control of things late game when Pacifist came out and just stayed on the defensive. Duskbreak Recruiter's ability for a cheap CoCo-ish trigger helped me filter through the stack easily. I killed his planeswalkers every chance I could get and forced him to trade with my big booty creatures.
Game 2: Naya Tokens (Seriously, what is up with tokens?) (0-2)
This was bad. really bad. I was not able to get my creatures out immediately for both matches. I was able to stall for a bit by burning the Planeswalkers but it just wasn't enough.
Second round, he had a nasty Radiant Flames and Dromoka's Command so Howlpack Resurgence was gone then Radiant Flames hit.
Game 3 WB Control (1-2)Control decks would've been easy but they're not for this match. The only time I won was with Lambholt Pacifist or Duskbreak Recruiter out and I was able to sift through with the latter.
He just went through my hand and discarded what he could with Thought-Knot + Eldrazi Displacer (yes it was a flicker combo)...
Game 4 GW Tokens (2-0) Seriously! I felt that this match, I had more control as I came out from the third match with the right mainboard for GW Tokens. I killed off his planeswalkers and forced him to trade bodies. I had 2 Howlpack Resurgence out and I just egged him on to trade with Lambholt, Duskbreak, and a Silverfur.
I've thought a tad about Neglected Heirloom. Obviously, you get some sick starts, but I was debating it as tech vs. creature MUs, where you're just trying to outclass their board (think removal light MUs). I might give it a go in the SB.
From my experience with Neglected Heirloom during Game Day, it has been a lifesaver. It gets one or two creatures out of Languish, flipped or unflipped. A Howlpack Resurgence in play makes it deadlier. and an Ashmouth Blade that gives +3/+3 with first strike is just something that makes the opponent go WHAT THE HELL...
Any thoughts on this list? I want to get a second Arlinn, but don't have one yet. I don't have a sideboard planned out yet, figure clip wings and neglected heirloom and some more burn/removal, maybe Kessig Forgemaster?
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The red cards printed for wolves are almost all double red, and the best one is better suited for mono red. (Scourge Wolf)
I feel a tri color deck is definitely possible in this format, but it would run like a control deck with something like Reality Smasher in it.
Land
6 Forest
9 Mountain
4 Game Trail
4 Cinder Glade
Creatures
4 Village Messenger
4 Kessig Forgemaster
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Silverfur Partisan
3 Scourge Wolf
4 Geier Reach Bandit
4 Ember-Eye Wolf
Planeswalker
2 Arlinn Kord
Enchantment
4 Howlpack Resurgence
Instants
4 Collected Company
I did have Atarka's command in place of Company and tied for 1st at a FNM
did not preform well at state so I added company
The deck Started with the Zada Combo in but hitting it was too unreliable although really fun to see your opponents eyes go wide when have of 40+ points of damage coming down on them.
clip wings to deal with all those pesky fliers
4x Duskwatch Recruiter Flip
2x Geier Reach Bandit Flip
4x Hinterland Logger Flip
3x Lightning Berserker
3x Scourge Wolf
4x Silverfur Partisan
3x Zada, Hedron Grinder
4x Rush of Adrenaline
4x Vines of the Recluse
2x Howlpack Resurgence
4x Game Trail
10x Mountain
I took it to FNM last week and went against the following match-ups
BUG Control
GW Token
UG Investigate/Mill
First match - BUG CONTROL 2-1
Early on, i was able to drop Village Messenger and Recruiter on the first and second turn. He literally gave me free transformations as he didn't do anything for the first three turns. BY turn 3, I drew Silverfur and popped an expedite to produce a 2/2 token. Come late game, I had Zada and Silverfur with 3 wolves out and Arlinn. One Titan's Strength sent everything into overdrive.
GW Token - 1-2
This one was a close match. the only problem was Dromoka's Command as it removed my Howlpack Resurgence early so my creatures just died to the tokens. I had no answer to the tokens. Radiant Flame will be a possible sideboard.
UG Investigate/Mill - 2-0
This one was a one-sided match as I did so much damage for the first three turns. The first game, I dropped Village messenger for 1 damage. then turn 2, transformed, attacked and dropped Titan's strength for 5 damage. opponent down to 14HP. Turn three, I drew another Titan's strength and I dropped two of them on Village Messenger for 8 damage. At the end of the turn, i transformed. The game stalled for two turns but I managed to wither his life away.
Possible notes:
Arlinn is hit or miss, and may need some other planeswalker support like Nissa, Voice of Zendikar for the counters. Removals like Radiant Flame and Moonlight Hunt are going on the sideboard as well. Exquisite Firecraft for the reach...
you can check out my deck here: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rg-zadafur-werewolves-budget-below-50/
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
it can bring a spell back to play?
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
The goal is simple. Flood out the board with your wolves. Do some damage, then transition to the late game with a dominated board.
Beastcaller Savant is utilized for acceleration, though one could argue the use of [[Cryptolith Rite]] but the creature bonus of Savant is too good to pass on to with Nissa around.
Cast CoCo for defense or for sudden burst of wolves on the board. And [[Radiant Flames]] for a board wipe of 2 damage. It's not much, but it's going to clear a lot of tokens, humans, and elves too...
4x Beastcaller Savant
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Geier Reach Bandit
4x Hinterland Logger
4x Lambholt Pacifist
4x Village Messenger
4x Game Trail
9x Mountain
2x Radiant Flames
2x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
4x Collected Company
3x Howlpack Resurgence
Check out the deck right here. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/hyper-aggro-coco-wolves/
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Geier Reach Bandit
2x Hermit of the Natterknolls
2x Sage of Ancient Lore
4x Village Messenger
8x Forest
2x Game Trail
9x Mountain
2x Arlinn Kord
3x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2x Brute Strength
4x Moonlight Hunt
2x Rush of Adrenaline
3x Howlpack Resurgence
2x Oath of Nissa
2x Skin Invasion
I ike using the walkers to help with the board presence and nissa helps boost. I also like the flash enchant we have, and the instant combat tricks are awesome I also think skin invasion is a wonderful card to make them attack with their mana dorks or defenders or something as we can usually kill something small or annoying and then get a beast out of it
I went into SOI assuming I wanted to play humans, but I've really fallen in love with RG Werewolves. At first it was Howlpack Resurgence and Pack Guardian that got my attention. The chance to play at instant speed is too powerful to ignore. A lot of wins are going to come from early pressure followed by a large trampling attack they didn't expect.
Lambholt Pacifist has been a much better performer than I thought. All it takes is one Resurgence and you've got a 4/4 for 2. A resurgence and a flip and you've got something out of Languish range, which is huge. Atarka's Command is a card that you might miss if you are focused on the wolf theme, but it's too good to leave out.
The obviously good cards are Duskwatch Recruiter Great for waiting until you've got 5-mana to play if you've got other 2-drops or don't need to build the board out immediately. Against slower decks, if you can flip it turn 2, you can dump your hand in disgusting ways on turn 3. Arlinn Kord is a perfectly cromulent planeswalker that does all the things you want a planeswalker to do: Protects itself immediately, provides advantage every turn it's alive, threatens to take over the game. Moonlight Hunt is fine for removal. It can get hosed sometimes and won't turn matches for you, but what do you want for 2 CMC and instant speed?
The biggest problem slot is 3-drop creatures. There's a lot of options, but I'm not in love with any of them except Geier Reach Bandit. The rest are all disappointing. Hermit of the Natterknolls doesn't give you enough presence to be a threat, and your opponent can just shrug and stop playing on your turn. Ulrich's Kindred's ability is just too expensive. Silverfur Partisan is just a big trap that looks way better than it is. 2/2 for your three-drop is a big problem. Trample isn't much of a payoff because you should be giving things trample from other effects anyway. There's a ton of non-targeted removal going around, and you don't want to be playing cards that target it yourself because that's warping your deck too much just to get some wolf tokens. I've just started trying Breakneck Rider, we'll see how that goes.
The trample makes it seem like it'd be fun to play with Uncaged Fury or other combat tricks, but there's just not room after you put in all the other stuff the deck needs.
4 Cinder Glade
4 Game Trail
9 Forest
8 Mountain
Creatures
4 Breakneck Rider
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Geier Reach Bandit
3 Kessig Forgemaster
4 Lambholt Pacifist
2 Pack Guardian
4 Arlinn Kord
Enchantments
4 Howlpack Resurgence
Instants
4 Atarka's Command
2 Moonlight Hunt
2 Act of Treason
1 Moonlight Hunt
3 Naturalize
3 Plummet
4 Seismic Rupture
2 Smash to Smithereens
Not close to fully tuned yet, but I like it a lot better than when I started working with it. I'm not sure if I want the full four Arlinn when I'm only at 21 creatures.
4x Beastcaller Savant
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Geier Reach Bandit
4x Hinterland Logger
4x Lambholt Pacifist
3x Village Messenger
4x Game Trail
10x Mountain
3x Chandra's Ignition
4x Moonlight Hunt
3x Howlpack Resurgence
2x Arlinn Kord
Beastcaller Savant helps ramp things up.
Neglected Heirloom keeps your creatures fat and that fat creature can become a primer for Chandra's Ignition... Whew! Board wipe you say?
Howlpack Resurgence gives me the boost to survive languish and other burns while keeping me on the offensive.
Arlinn Kord is the wolfpack's momma...
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
I'm a little confused as to why Collected Company is a must-include (not saying I disagree, smarter players than me seem to think so). It doesn't seem strictly better for this deck than Pack Guardian.
PG cons: Requires the fifth land in hand to get full value, double-green casting cost could occasionally be a problem. Creatures it produces aren't werewolves and can never flip to become better.
PG pros: Always pulls a 4/3 and a 2/2, which on average is going to be more sudden power on the board than CC will hit in these decks. Will never surprise half-whiff.
Unless I'm underestimating the problem of the fifth land, that seems pretty even.
Turn 1 Wolf.
Turn 2 Wolf.
Turn 3 Geier Reach Bandit.
Turn 4 Pass and Flip.
Turn 4.5 CoCo, Get two wolves that auto flip.
Turn 5 Anything and swing,
I'm not a fan because I think Howlpack Resourgence is the best tribal support we have. Flash Anthems are amazing. That and removal lower the creature below what I feel is required for CoCo to be consistant. A lot of players play Arlinn, which don't disagree with (it's not tribal, just good,) and that makes CoCo even worse.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Level 1 Judge (yay)
3x Breakneck Rider
3x Brute Strength
3x Cinder Glade
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
8x Forest
2x Game Trail
3x Geier Reach Bandit
3x Howlpack Resurgence
4x Moonlight Hunt
9x Mountain
3x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2x Oath of Nissa
4x Rush of Adrenaline
3x Silverfur Partisan
4x Village Messenger
2x Skin Invasion
Im having good luck with this deck right now. It seems the archtypes for wolves, are Aggro, CoCo and Silverfur. This one is an instant silverfur deck that works with aggro and cheap combat tricks
2x Zurgo Bellstriker
4x Lambholt Pacifist
4x Kessig Forgemaster
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Geier Reach Bandit
2x Breakneck Rider
2x Pack Guardian
2x Moonlight Hunt
2x Roast
2x Rush of Adrenaline
4x Cinder Glade
4x Game Trail
6x Forest
9x Mountain
2x Twin Bolt
3x Rending Volley
2x Clip Wings
1x Act of Treason
1x Display of Dominance
1x Akoum Firebird
3x Goldnight Castigator
1x Evolutionary Leap
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
RRGG Puppies.
4-0 FNM. (BIG DEAL I KNOW)
Good cards.
Werewolves.
Bad cards.
Howlpack Resurgence. You don't really need more than 1 of this effect. Drawing 2 is basically a deathknell when the deck is largely about trying to avoid your opponent 1-for-1'ing you until they stick a walker.
Maybe this deck needs some evasion in Akoum Firebird or Thunderbreak Regent. Firebird sounds excellent since it avoids a lot of the 1-for-1s that end up killing you. It pressures walkers and lets you do something with excess mana. However, it's bad vs. Avacyn. Bummer.
Whatever. I'll figure that out later.
2x Zurgo Bellstriker
4x Kessig Forgemaster
4x Sylvan Advocate
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Geier Reach Bandit
2x Breakneck Rider
3x Akoum Firebird
4x Exquisite Firecraft
3x Rush of Adrenaline
4x Cinder Glade
4x Game Trail
6x Forest
9x Mountain
3x Goldnight Castigator
2x Twin Bolt
1x Naturalize
2x Clip Wings
3x Rending Volley
1x Dragonlord Atarka
2x Call of the Full Moon
1x Act of Treason
The ultimate downfall of this deck that it just folds on the draw against control unless they play it badly. I've won a couple against Esper control underestimating just how much damage this deck can surprise pump through in one turn, but otherwise you're just gonna have a bad time getting 1-for-1'd with their removal spells forever. Pack Guardian can help with this matchup because it can kill a minused Sorin immediately, but it's not usually enough.
The matchup vs. mono-white humans isn't bad at all. Trample trumps tiny chumpers, and Lambholt Pacifist and Kessig Forgemaster holds them back pretty well. WU humans is tougher, Reflector Mage is super bad for us.
On paper, B/G Aristocrats is bad for us. We're basically never hitting our draw step with a flipped werewolf. In practice, it's not that bad because so many people are playing that deck that don't know how to play it.
Underdogs to Jund but not prohibitively so, you just need to get some creatures out of burn range quickly to blank half their removal.
The best matchup in the current main meta is easily Goggles. We can get guys out of burn range quickly and beat their face before they have time to get going, and RG has access to great anti-artifact sideboarding. Non-goggles RG Ramp is a lot tougher, you *need* to have Atarka's Command in hand and up to stop them from gaining 7 off Nissa's Renewal.
I consider the explosion of the budget Mono-blue Brains deck to be fortuitous, because that's an amazing matchup for us. Our creatures can get big enough to dodge Engulf the Shores early, and Arlinn Kord just wrecks this matchup.
I'm seriously looking at Duskwatch Recruiter and wondering if it belongs after all. It seems amazing at first glance and lots of decks want it. But it might not be what a RG werewolves aggro deck wants. If you've got five mana up to play him and lock in his front-side ability, and you really need to hit those creatures, the game's already gone longer than you want and he's just helping you lose less. And his back-side ability lets you dump your hand to win, but if you are dumping your hand it means a) you aren't afraid of board wipes and b) you've got lots of creatures to play, so he's a little win-more.
2x Confront the Unknown
4x Expedite
4x Might of the Masses
2x Moonlight Hunt
4x Rush of Adrenaline
1x Vines of the Recluse
Sorcery (1)
1x Rabid Bite
Enchantment (2)
2x Howlpack Resurgence
Creature (18)
3x Duskwatch Recruiter Flip
3x Scourge Wolf
4x Silverfur Partisan
4x Timberpack Wolf
4x Zada, Hedron Grinder
4x Evolving Wilds
7x Forest
2x Game Trail
8x Mountain
Planeswalker (1)
1x Arlinn Kord
2x Crumble to Dust
3x Display of Dominance
2x Kozilek's Return
3x Lightning Axe
1x Moonlight Hunt
2x Natural State
2x Vines of the Recluse
King Macar, the Gold-Cursed
Yeah. Moonlight Hunt is real bad. It's sweet that it's instant speed vs. Avacyn but that's just about it. People are pretty loose about their life totals in this format, so Firecraft can do some real work, especially when you're 1-3 drops did most of the work but you need a way to get around their vigilant 4/4s while they bash you for 4 every turn.
I agree here. I think the trick is to find more threats outside of Werewolves that are resilient. Obvious ones include cards like Silverfur Partisan and Pack Guardian (though Guardian requires extra lands to be efficient on curve). More outside of the box would be beaters like Akoum Firebird or Servant of the Scale. Another card I've considered is Insolent Neonate, which is not the most ridiculous card to something like Languish or Radiant Flames. If exile weren't everywhere, I'd solve this problem by just jamming 4x Infectious Bloodlust but alas. Den Protector also fits the bill (and plays well with Arlinn) -- but everyone knows that card. I've played with Raptor in said builds and it's too slow.
Another solution is to get rid of cards that are ridiculous against 1-for-1 control decks -- cards like Lambholt Pacifist. I solved this problem by just playing Sylvan Advocate instead. It's a 2/3 that becomes a 4/5 *shrugs*. Here, against the 1-for-1 control decks, Duskwatch Recruiter shines.
Yea, I don't disagree here. I wish we had more flash creatures to take advantage of this. Alternatively, you can try and fit more resilient beaters to play off of him. I'm jamming him since I just don't know what else to play. In the aggressive beatdown lists, Kessig Forgemaster wins the two-drop slot by a mile. "Nice soldier tokens brah. You're blocking with 2 of them in an attempt to play around A-Command? Great. They all die."
Seriously, nobody reads this card.
Scourge Wolf isn't bad. I've also thought about Dragon Whisperer. RR is no joke for any mana base though.
And can confirm that the "opponent didn't read card" value is super real. Best example came last night against Mono U Brains with TiTi. I've got four creatures on the board including two flipped Forgemasters and a Howlpack out, full 20 life, and the mana and cards to play two more creatures in second main. Opponent has Awoken Horror and 13 zombie tokens to protect his 5 life. I swing with everything and hope to draw some burn next turn. Opponent puts the awoken horror on something else and each flipped forgemaster gets to blow up three zombie tokens then trample through for a total of 8.
Side note that I'm sure I'm not the only one to not notice: Scourge Wolf is a horror and doesn't get bounced by TiTi.
One of the fun things about this deck is that avacyn flashing in isn't a huge problem. If I'm swinging with everything into five open mana against white, the game had better be in trample+burn range anyway.
I'm not sure that this deck cares too much about TiTi. It's just a derpy 0/4. If the game goes long you can just have Rending Volley for the presumed Jace in their list (unless they're budget, in that case leave it in the SB).
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I also agree with the "swing into 5 open mana" thing. With Rush of Adrenaline and Exquisite Firecraft, you can usually get there with your beaters. Howlpack Resurgence is dope but I've gotten away from as many wolves as I've had before.
Still, if they've played some beaters you've had to work around, it can be a bit of a problem. Sometimes you just don't have 1drop-2drop-3drop nut draws. Personally, I'm on 4x Firecraft so if I've lived the entire turn cycle I can just take it out on my 1st mainphase. Sometimes they then have the 2nd but thems the beats. Rending Volley is a great SB card.
4x Duskwatch Recruiter Flip
4x Geier Reach Bandit
3x Kessig Forgemaster
4x Lambholt Pacifist
4x Pack Guardian
3x Village Messenger
9x Forest
4x Game Trail
10x Mountain
3x Fiery Impulse
4x Moonlight Hunt
1x Arlinn Kord
2x Burn from Within
3x Clip Wings
2x Evolutionary Leap
2x Fall of the Titans
3x Radiant Flames
3x Rolling Thunder
The way I approached tweaking my deck to keep up with the Tier 1 netdecks was to simply play to its strengths = Red for Removal, Green for Massive Big-Bootied Creatures.
Match details below:
There were 4 rounds swiss.
1st match - GW Tokens (2-1)
The MVP: Lambholt Pacifist Flip + Neglected Heirloom
For the life of me, I wanted to run with village messenger plus heirloom but on the first draw, I got 2 Pacifists and drew out a Heirloom on the 2nd round. By the third round, I equipped the Heirloom on the Pacifist for a 4/4 body. Swung for 4.
The next turn, she transformed for a 7/7 first strike. My opponent was
and had no answer for her except to flip her back again. I equipped the wolves with heirloom. He swarmed with tokens, but I killed them easily.
Pretty much, every time I won, Lambholt Pacifist was there. I lost the second round because I mulligan'ed due to no lands and ended up with one land on the mulligan. would've gone for 5 but at that point it was pointless so i just ran with it.
the third round was close, but i took control of things late game when Pacifist came out and just stayed on the defensive. Duskbreak Recruiter's ability for a cheap CoCo-ish trigger helped me filter through the stack easily. I killed his planeswalkers every chance I could get and forced him to trade with my big booty creatures.
Game 2: Naya Tokens (Seriously, what is up with tokens?) (0-2)
This was bad. really bad. I was not able to get my creatures out immediately for both matches. I was able to stall for a bit by burning the Planeswalkers but it just wasn't enough.
Second round, he had a nasty Radiant Flames and Dromoka's Command so Howlpack Resurgence was gone then Radiant Flames hit.
Game 3 WB Control (1-2)Control decks would've been easy but they're not for this match. The only time I won was with Lambholt Pacifist or Duskbreak Recruiter out and I was able to sift through with the latter.
He just went through my hand and discarded what he could with Thought-Knot + Eldrazi Displacer (yes it was a flicker combo)...
Game 4 GW Tokens (2-0) Seriously! I felt that this match, I had more control as I came out from the third match with the right mainboard for GW Tokens. I killed off his planeswalkers and forced him to trade bodies. I had 2 Howlpack Resurgence out and I just egged him on to trade with Lambholt, Duskbreak, and a Silverfur.
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
I've thought a tad about Neglected Heirloom. Obviously, you get some sick starts, but I was debating it as tech vs. creature MUs, where you're just trying to outclass their board (think removal light MUs). I might give it a go in the SB.
I updated my deck tech and I'm now running Evolutionary Leap. My deck tech is right here. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gruul-werewolves-with-removal-top-8-game-day
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
4 Village Messenger
4 Ember-Eye Wolf
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Hermit of the Natterknolls
4 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Silverfur Partisan
4 Attarka's Command
4 Moonlight Hunt
[Enchantment]
4 Howlpack Resurgence
[Planeswalker]
1 Arlinn Kord
9 Mountain
8 Forest
4 Cinder Glade
2 Game Trail
Any thoughts on this list? I want to get a second Arlinn, but don't have one yet. I don't have a sideboard planned out yet, figure clip wings and neglected heirloom and some more burn/removal, maybe Kessig Forgemaster?