You probably don't know about this deck. It might look vaguely familiar, since the shell is something you might have even played against, but... there's something new here. Something different.
When AVR was getting spoiled, there were a few cards that just looked so intriguing that I had to build around them. My favorites were probably
Ulvenwald Tracker and
Champion of Lambholt. Both started out in this deck, but it’s gone through some iterations since then. As you might guess, this deck started as a Naya Humans deck, but it evolved into something more, especially once it became devoted to the Champion plan.
It added a fourth color when
Lingering Souls got added, just as a lark, and it changed the whole perspective of the deck. Then it got crazy when I decided to stretch that color a bit more with
Blood Artist. Here’s the way the deck currently looks:
The List
Why Play this Deck?
Yes this is basically a 3 color GWr Aggro deck. At it's core it's a GW Aggressive Midrange deck that in many ways looks a lot like the GW lists that were popular in the fall (although it predates them). The small red splash gives a bit of range in sideboarding to combat the traditional issues GW has. If you look at the traditional favorable matchups for GW and GR they cover pretty much the whole metagame. This deck is really about leveraging the best of both worlds. I will get into the card choices in a moment, but first let's look at what motivation one would have to pick up such a list.
Why?
- You like feeling the cards you play are generally better than what the opponent can play at the same point in the game.
- You like knowing that most of your non-mana top decks are simply game enders at any point in the game.
- You prefer being the proactive player that sets the roles the players play in the matchup.
Why Not?
- You favor decks that offer a lot of complex decision trees, card filtering, and card draw.
- You like feeling in control of the game at all points of the game.
- You prefer single purpose linear strategies, ie always on the attack, always on the defense.
- You like playing Blue.
This list irks people because it is designed in a way you have to trust your deck implicitly. As with typical GW decks it seems your worst enemy is your own draws. This deck sets to maximize the potential of your draws. People will call you a lucksack. This deck is designed to make the player playing it lucky. It just means you always have to play to your outs and trust you will draw it.
Card Choices
Mana
Mana can occasionally be an issue, but with Birds, Pilgrims,
Abundant Growth, and a few Caverns, it works out most games to get exactly what you need. Most often you still name “Humans” with the Caverns, too.
With the majority of the lands providing green (12), it’s easy to see the primary color. White is secondary (7), then red (5), and black (4). On top of that we have 2 Caverns that provide some flexibility, but they’re best when paired with Abundant Growths. It has taken a lot of tweaking to get the base this solidly, but I think it’s about optimized for a 4C deck.
As for the splits, Isolated Chapel is a way to up the Black count without sacrificing tempo -- we never want to cast a white spell T1 anyway, so having it potentially come in tapped isn’t a huge problem. T1 should be for Green. On the flip side, Blackcleave Cliff is in because with only 1 swamp, the odds of the M12 land entering untapped are next to nil, so I have at least 3 turns to potentially drop it for fast mana. The double 4s for other Scars lands is because they’re the ideal plays on each early turn. We want those dual sources, especially T2 onward, when Lingering Souls becomes amazing pace.
Lastly, Gavony is the not-so-secret wincon in this deck. It’s great against control; it even helps us not need to overextend (even though Blood Artist makes that less problematic). It’s so easy to hit 5 mana sources, one of which is white and one green, that this can often be a T3 drop and trigger. That’s hard to match in terms of tempo.
The Win Conditions
3
Hero of Bladehold
Most people understand that this card MUST be answered. It’s 7+ power on the next turn, swinging across 3+ bodies. Most likely, it’s more in this deck. We don’t run all four because the top end of the curve is actually a bit stronger with a few other options. How scary is that? Still, I've alternated between 3-4 copies because another Hero is rarely, if ever, a bad thing.
4
Champion of Lambholt
This is the reason I built this deck. It's an Overrun-like card that shatters board stalls, before becoming a legitimate threat itself. Do you kill this or the Hero of Bladehold? It’s intensified because so much of this deck pumps its power, making ALL your creatures unblockable. One of the strongest plays in this deck is to drop a Hero T3 and then this Champion T4, not even attacking, but allowing the Hero’s soldier-generation to pump the Champion freely. Then there’s what happens when paired with
Lingering Souls… Quoting
ryansolid on his warning here though:
Of course this card can backfire. It is similar to Soulbond in that sense as it can be countered by a removal spell. The advantage of a card like this is you give them no breathing space.. if they leave up mana for removal, then you get to expand out faster on the board. Obviously this matters not at all against control but against Tokens this is very big deal...
2
Wolfir Silverheart
In this deck, these act as humongous anthems. That they then become 8/8s too is just icing on the cake. Pairing this with a Champion is usually a game-winner. But what really makes this so impressive is that it doesn’t really matter
which creature you bond it with -- the flexibility is the key. Even a snotty little 1/1 flyer becomes a threat with a Silverheart on the board. That 1/1 Pilgrim on T5 isn’t a pushover for long either. That’s the power the Silverheart adds, and it’s put to such incredibly use in this deck, it’s nuts.
3
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Originally this was
Garruk Relentless, because the appeal was token generation, some limited creature control, and the tutor on the flip side. But after playing with him a bit, I realized that the tokens were more valuable… and his lack of ways to gain loyalty were a major concern, especially since 3-power fliers are a common thing in this Standard. That got me thinking: what about a planeswalker that could
gain loyalty? Sorin was in our splash zone, and at the same CMC even if a bit harder to cast. I gave him a run, and wow. His -2 is the exact anthem our deck craves, especially if you get the chance to repeat it. Even his lifelink 1/1s are relevant. You’ll never get to ultimate him in this deck, but that’s because your opponent will either HAVE to kill him, or you’ll just keep stocking up on emblems. You don’t need the ultimate.
Removal Suite
2(+1)
Oblivion Ring
This is the point-and-shoot removal. It doesn't get much better, since it’s all about exiling, which is great against zombies and undying. This removal tends to lend to the sheer power of the deck, in addition to being a great answer to just about
anything. It’s also an interesting way to remove legends and walkers after boarding when paired with Beast Within. That’s obviously not ideal though.
2(+)
Bonfire of the Damned
Since this card was revealed, it has only gotten better. Seriously, every time I play this card it accomplishes exactly what is needed, and often even more. Whether you consider its presence in an opening hand a drawback or not, I’ll still say that even as a 3-mana spell or hardcast at 5 mana for 2 damage across the board (like a more-offensive Township activation), it is impressive. There are only two copies in the deck because more seemed to be superfluous, or just bad against some decks, but that’s why there’s room in the sideboard.
The “Tech”
2
Mutagenic Growth
These are actually our “counterspells” of sorts. They also double as removal spells. They also work as a way of pushing the final damage through in an unblockable situation when put on a Champion. They’re great. Situational, but great nonetheless.
In testing so far, the deck seems great against Delver, OK against control (usually because it can get such a quick start), and it struggles against All-American Miracles. I’m just not sure how to handle Entreat + Gideon.
Beast Within only does so much, and O-Ring tries to pick up the slack, but it’s troublesome.
4
Blood Artist
This is the card that people just don't see coming, especially in this deck, but when it hits they're all like, "Oh." Then they have to answer it or die. Blood Artist solves the problem this deck didn't even realize it had, which was it really
wants to overextend, and it can do so quite easily, but it always gets punished for it. This one card helps negate that a bit, and it makes your opponent think twice before casting that T4 Wrath. They probably still will, but watching the Artist eat some spot removal that they then can't use next turn on your Hero is priceless. Whether 4 is the right number, though, that's the real question. I've tried 3 and 4 both, and I'm still not sure which is best. It's surprisingly easy to get
1B in this deck, especially on T3, which is when you really want to cast him.
1(+1)
Zealous Conscripts
Everyone who has played against anything that even
splashed red lately knows why this card is amazing. Taking your opponent’s biggest threat and abusing it for a turn is often just enough to win you the game, especially if that’s a walker about to ultimate, or a Wurmcoil, or an Elesh Norn. It doesn’t get a whole lot better than that.
The Sideboard
This has been the most challenging piece of the puzzle for me. I guess that's because it's the most meta-dependant. I see a lot of zombies, so that explains the
Celestial Purges. But even so, they feel like they're just as good against some Wolf Run decks that play Inferno Titans or Huntmasters.
Riders of Gavony is there solely for the tribal decks, like Humans, that are a complete PITA when they get going. I know that Champions essentially do the same thing, but this one just acts as copy 5 if we need it. It's also my most uncertain sideboard card; it used to be a
Goldnight Commander, which surved a more Overrun-style role.
Whether I run
Arc Trails or more Bonfires depends on my mood, the day, and which people/decks I expect to show up. They serve similar purposes, actually, especially when paired with Blood Artist. It's really been hard to undersell the Bonfires, though. They're just so
good.
The rest seem pretty self-evident, except perhaps the
Ratchet Bombs, which you might think hurt this deck a lot too. That's true, but when your opponents love to topdeck
Entreat the Angels, and especially if you've got a Blood Artist on the board, that Ratchet Bomb is perhaps the
only good answer you can find.
