Cut some of the clunky wrath effects (you only really need Wrath of God and maybe Hallowed Burial. The X spells also don't do much for you most of the time as you'd rather just cast equipment and bash in.
Run some artifact destruction, since you'll be hard-pressed to find an artifact-less Duel Commander deck. Smelt is the most efficient, but Into the Core is also decent. Alternatively Return to Dust and Disenchant are also good cards to have. In the interest of being efficient, I recommend Smelt and Disenchant.
Elemental Mastery: I know what you're thinking. Are you mental, you'd ask. But no, I'm quite sane, and this card is just the nuts. Put this on a normal metalcrafted Jor Kadeen with no enhancements and you're looking at THIRTY-TWO power of elementals with haste on the field. This card is insanely good, and a must-have in Jor Kadeen decks.
Lightning Mauler: Sometimes you just wanna give Jor Kadeen or Hero of Bladehold haste and wreck face. Speaking of which, do run Hero of Bladehold too. It's one of the best 4-drop white cards ever printed.
Ethersworn Canonist: It's theoretically a good hatebear in this deck. You want to curve out each turn so you won't be casting more than one nonartifact spell a turn anyways, and it interferes with their gameplan while being another artifact and sword-bearer
See the spoiler below for cards to take out:
Nobilis of War: At 5 mana this card doesn't do enough. If you're going Voltron, stick with the theme and avoid cards like this that don't further your plans to kill them with Jor Kadeen or one decked out creature swinging in
Bosh, Iron Golem: Without acceleration you'll never reach this point. This guy is simply too slow in a duel.
Precinct Captain: This guy belongs in a token strategy, and is too mediocre even for that
Hoarding Dragon: There is always a risk of them exiling this thing thus also getting your artifact out of the way. It's also quite slow, so you might want to get Moltensteel Dragon instead, which is an artifact and also has natural pump that can come down a turn earlier. Still, this card has synergy with Kiki-Jiki
Hellkite Igniter: At 7 mana it better do something amazing. You run <20 artifacts, so this thing isn't amazing nor really playable. Thundermaw Hellkite is a better Hellkite to run if you have it.
Glory of Warfare: Another card that's better in the token strategy which you're not running.
Some general musings about playing Jor Kadeen
As a general rule of thumb, keep the cmc of the deck low. You want your low mana spells to be efficient and cost-effective and your high-end stuff to have a big impact immediately. That's why we run Gisela and Elesh instead of Reya. You don't want too many high cost spells, which is why Hellkite Igniter should be cut for its smaller, more efficient cousin.
Be fast and brutal. Make your opponent stumble on mana as you deploy your hatebears and double-striking beaters. If you have a Sworded creature, don't be afraid to just Armageddon and close out the game
Cards to consider from Gatecrash
Aurelia, the Warleader: Plays very nicely with a suited up Jor Kadeen, enabling you to kill with General damage in one fell swoop
Boros Charm: Doublestrike is the key thing you'll be using this Charm for, but giving your guys protection from a wrath effect is also nothing to scoff at. This gets to nod over Rootborn Defenses because it's cheaper and much more versatile. Run it and love it.
Assemble the Legion: This is one of the few times where a card that doesn't immediately impact the board is good enough to consider. This thing constantly spews out 4/1 haste creatures at an ever-increasing rate. What's not to love?
Mimeoplasm has out Dual Nature, which is wonderful for the Sun Titan in my hand. What I didn't realize was the interaction between Sharuum and Dual Nature. It just so happens that I had a Krark-Clan Ironworks in my graveyard and a Spine of Ish Sah in my hand. Once I realized the implications, this happened:
I cast Sharuum the Hegemon, targeting Krark-Clan Ironworks in my graveyard. Dual Nature triggers and puts a token of Sharuum onto the battlefield. The token's ability triggers, but isn't put on the stack until after state-based actions are checked. This means I can put it on the stack after Sharuum has died, allowing me to target Sharuum and repeat the loop to return all artifact cards from my graveyard to the battlefield.
Then, I kept recurring Sharuum, sacrificing it for mana every time Dual Nature triggers. This gives me infinite colourless mana and a sac outlet to Spine everything on my opponents' boards. ^^
So is anyone else wondering why all the match coverages had Tempered Steel in it? It's not even the most popular archetype. In fact, the second most popular archtype, Illusions, saw no coverage at all.
I'm all for the Grudge. The best thing about it is that it triggers Shrine of Burning Rage twice at relatively little cost. I know I've won a game by casting and flashing back two Grudges while having a shrine out, effectively dealing 4 to my opponent with my 2 spells that are meant only to destroy artifacts. Not bad for a sideboard card, and more mana efficient than Geistflame when used to charge up Shrine. Taking care of Spellskite is huge, as that card shuts down our most powerful lategame plan, the Shrine.
I went to 2 Game Day events this Saturday and went undefeated in each of them with a variation on RDW that uses Curse of Stalked Prey and Vault Skirge.
In the first Game Day event, we played 4 rounds and cut to top 4 (there were only 9 participants) for prizes. The tournament report will be spoilered below:
Round 2: Vs. GW Pod. I don't remember this game much since I faced the same deck in the top 4 and my impression of that match is stronger, but I took the match 2-1 after a close call in the 3rd game thanks to Shrine of Burning Rage. I sideboarded Stromkirk Nobles out because they were blocked by Birds and Viridian Emissary all too often, in favour of Ancient Grudge, Dismember and Naturalize
Round 3: Vs. MonoB Infect. Game 1 was a blur, I only remembered him not drawing Phyrexian Crusader and me winning with an aggressive start.
Game 2 I stuck a Stormblood Berserker whose thirst wasn't sated, but he soon grew thanks to the 2 Curse of Stalked Prey that I resolved afterward. Meanwhile, I drew perfectly and dispatched his triple Spellskite start with Ancient Grudge into Naturalize, then drew the Dismember to take care of his freshly cast Phyrexian Vatmother.
Meanwhile, I get pecked by Plague Stinger and eventually a hasty Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, which put me to 7 poison, and he cast a 2nd Vatmother. However, by this time, my Berserker was a 7/7, and he had to chump it with both his non-Skittles guys. I still had to chump block the Skittles with Chandra's Phoenix for a few turns, but eventually I dispatched the dragon with double Incinerate, and got there on the back of my growing creatures.
Round 4: ID into top 4. I was so glad I could do this, because this match was against my friend playing Heartless Summoning, and I can't beat the deck's nut draws (he once cast turn 2 double Myr Superion, which is hard to beat. Imagine having to deal with 2 Tarmogoyfs in standard by turn 2 that have already grown...)
Semi-Finals: Vs. GW Pod. Same pilot as before. Same result as before. In Game 1 I died after having to chump block a Wurmcoil Engine for a few turns and shooting my own guys, keeping him at 3-4 life but never drawing the Brimstone Volley I needed to finish him off.
Game 3 was very scary, since he stabilized after my initial assault and resolved Wurmcoil Engine and Archon of Justice while remaining at 12 life. I had a Shrine of Burning Rage on 5 counters, but nothing on the board. The last 2 turns went something like this:
Him: Attack with Archon, Wurmcoil
Me: Ancient Grudge on Wurmcoil, ticking Shrine to 6, flash it back on a token, Shrine to 7
Him: Cast Solemn Simulacrum and Blade Splicer, go.
Me: Tick Shrine to 8, go. I'm at 6 life.
Him: Attack with the team.
Me: Grudge the Golem, Flash it back on Solemn, tick shrine to 10, take 5 going to 1 life. At this point I was so afraid of a Beast Within or something on my shrine, but that didn't happen. I'm holding an Incinerate in my hand, but only 4 lands so I cannot both cast it and activate Shrine. If I only activate Shrine, I only get him down to 1 life, so I need to topdeck the land. Indeed I do so and won at exactly 1 life thanks to Shrine of Burning Rage.
I split the finals with the Mono-B infect player.
In the second Game Day event, we played 4 rounds and final results are based on standings. I went 3-0-1, drawing in the final round and ending up 1st in tiebreakers.
I tested Champion of the Parish and it's incredibly mediocre. A lot of the time it's just a 2/2 or 3/3 that gets chump-blocked all day or can't get through first striking golems. Plus it empties your hand pretty quickly and forces you to overcommit and not save up until you get out your Mentors. I found out another card that works extremely well in such swarm decks and carries swords like a boss.
Meet Doomed Traveler. An unimpressive 1/1 body for W, but you can slap a sword on it any day of the week and it becomes a force to be reckoned with. If they kill it with removal, who cares? You get yourself a Squadron Hawk to play with! Sure it doesn't search for other Doomed Travelers (if it did, it would be too too good), but the value it provides when it dies is good enough. If you guys liked Hawks you'll also love this guy.
The Mayor/Mentor nonsynergy is pretty annoying, and the fact that sometimes the Mayor ceases to pump your guys is also not cool. I think Avacyn Pilgrim needs to be in this deck to power out a turn 2 Mentor/Crusader. Other than that, well... Angelic Overseer is a pretty nice finisher, Geist-Honored Monk is good with Mentor and good at recovering you from board wipes, and Angelic Destiny is a surprisingly good card to slap onto a Mirran Crusader who only dies to Red removal spells (no more good instant speed blue bounce in the format!!).
I'm thinking of a version that's even more chock full of creatures, but I can see the benefit in having instant speed spells. Do consider Doomed Traveler, as that card is just so much value for so cheap. If it dies, you can get as many as 2 flying spirit tokens out of it, and it carries swords or takes up an Angelic Destiny very well.
Another card that might complement Angelic Overseer is Geist-honored Monk, as it makes more tokens and can perform well on both offense and defense. I can also see Divine Reckoning seeing play in this deck instead of Day of Judgment. Sure they get to keep their best guy (best hope it's not a Titan), but you get to keep your unblockable, hexproof clock, and I can bet you're the one winning that race. Plus with Reckoning you don't have to hope to draw a 2nd copy, just flash the 1st one back.
Venser + Snapcaster only enables Instants, since the Mage will etb at the beginning of your end step. This limits it to instants you would like to cast on your turn, and makes you spend mana at the end of your turn instead of holding up mana on your opponent's turn. This means that you're most likely to use this to recast removal spells like Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, which stretches your manabase a little. Pure UW doesn't have that many good options to flashback like that from what we've seen so far of ISD (Into the Roil is rotating) so that isn't a very strong interaction at all atm.
I posted a decklist for RG Land Destruction on the first page, and took it to the M12 Game Day on Saturday. I made top 4 (we split), going 4-1 overall, with my only loss being to a tripped out UW control deck (with Phantasmal Image and Blade Splicer, etc.). The tournament report can be found here. The deck works out very well, and has a good matchup vs. the popular versions of Cawblade. Counterspells are rough, but can be played around, and Beast Within is one of the best cards in the deck. Too bad it doesn't survive rotation, but it's a ton of fun to take out for a spin.
I played a RG Land Destruction deck, featuring Chandra, the Firebrand, Melt Terrain and other assorted goodies to a top 4 finish (we split the top 4), but there were only 9 ppl at my LGS. The decklist can be found in the Standard Deck Creation forum. My tournament report can be found below:
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: UW Shape Anew
In game 1, I ramped up and kept his land count low while applying beatdowns with Skinshifter and Wurmcoil Engine. He managed to get out Blightsteel Colossus, but attacked into my Wurmcoil (then Shape Anewed into another BC), which gave me the chance to Beast Within my own land to attack for lethal.
In game 2, I didn't draw the Slagstorm for his mono-Splicer draw and died to a bunch of flying 4/4s Golems.
Game 3 was close. He had amassed 3 5/5 Flying, First Strike Golems, while I had triple Overgrown Battlement and 2 Skinshifters. On the turn he was about to kill me, I topdecked a Roiling Terrain for exactly lethal and sealed the deal.
Round 4: UW Cawblade
Game 1 I curved out perfectly. Turn 2 Explore into turn 3 Beast Within on his upkeep, essentially timewalking him even though he had the Mana Leak for my BW. I then proceeded to untap and Melt Terrain his coloured lands while he missed land drops. The rest is just some Skinshifter and Raging Ravine beatdown.
Game 2 I desideboarded and again curved out perfectly while he missed his land drops again. Turns out double Goblin Ruinblaster just ruins Cawblade (pun intended).
I'm 2nd place at this point, behind the UW player that beat me in the 3rd round. In the top 4, again I'm paired with the UW Cawblade player I just defeated. We played 2 quick games where I didn't sideboard and won through perfectly timed LD, keeping him land-light while my little beaters swung in for lethal.
Final Impressions on Game Day: The deck performed as I expected, although I never got to play vs. Aggro (the Goblins and Vampire players both lost in the first round so I never saw them). I think I could have won round 3 had I drawn more Slagstorms. Chandra and Slagstorm both didn't show up often enough, which is just variance since I see them enough in testing.
Turn 3 Beast Within on the opponent's upkeep is one of the strongest things to be doing. It's essentially a Time Walk vs. most decks, especially the control decks. You want them to counter the spell, as it takes out a counterspell, taps down their mana, and ensures that they don't do anything else that turn. If the spell resolves, you've destroyed a land, and the Beast token is mostly irrelevant since you're likely to have Battlement or Slagstorm or Skinshifter to block it (plus it can't attack that turn). You might not want to do this vs Aggro, unless you have a Slagstorm in hand, but against control, it's the best thing to do. After this, they're often tapped out of counter mana, so you just calmly untap and land a Chandra or cast another LD spell, which puts you really far ahead.
1 Wurmcoil Engine and 1 Inferno Titan might be a bit too little for finishers. Once they're removed, you're out of ways to seal the deal quickly, but the deck needs a critical mass of LD, so it's tough to justify taking them out for more copies (perhaps I could take out the Acidic Slimes, but I'm unsure about this).
The sideboard is good vs. most of the field, but against Cawblade and variants, you really just want to stick to your gameplan. Unless you're really afraid of Hero of Bladehold, sometimes it's better to just keep in all your cards, and pretend to sideboard. Sure it's good to Dismember a Hero, but then you're giving up on your main plan. It's often the case that by just keeping the maindeck, you win game 2 (I find this to be true after playing vs. the UW Cawblade deck in top 4). Game 1 is heavily favoured for you, as you can surprise them with the LD and punish people who keep land light hands. Once you strip them of their lands, they're just dead to your manlands or Skinshifters.
Overall I had a blast playing the deck, and I'm looking forward to testing it at a more competitive level. I'd like to hear some feedback on things that could be improved about the deck, if possible. Thanks for reading!
I'll be bringing a RG Land Destruction concoction that runs Chandra, the Firebrand. It has a good matchup vs. Aggro and not too shabby against control either. With 4 answers to Twin maindeck and 7 more postboard, I feel like it can take on Deceiver Exarch, and even Tempered Steel can be dealt with postboard. Will have to see how it goes, but I'm optimistic about the results.
Hey, a fellow LD player! I thought I was the only one to think of this idea in the current Standard, but I'm glad to see I was wrong. I built my version of the deck for the M12 Game Day, and my approach is a bit different. The decklist I have is below:
The deck is built to be resistant to Beast Within, and to punish Cawblade and other decks that rely on creatures with 3 or less toughness. Slagstorm wipes out most boards while keeping your own intact, and Overgrown Battlement is a great multipurpose card. It ramps, it protects you and your planeswalkers from the Beast Within tokens as well as any kind of early aggro, and most importantly, it survives Slagstorm.
Skinshifter is a very versatile card. It can be a finisher, a wall, an evasive beater that takes care of opposing planeswalkers, and it survives a Slagstorm.
The main plan right now is to ramp up on turn 2, land a Chandra, then start blowing up their lands while beating down with your choice of creatures or manlands. The 6-drop monsters are there for when you can't keep your foe down on lands throughout the game and need a way to close things in a hurry. You rarely need them, as the deck is not a ramp deck at heart, but a resource denial deck that has a good plan vs. both aggro and control.
In the Mindbreak Trap example, you may not exile the Frost Titan and Lightning Bolt, because they've already resolved and are no longer spells on the stack. You can only hit Duress like that.
Mindbreak Trap is designed to close out counterspell wars, where there is more than one spell on the stack. It can also counter spells with Storm that makes copies of themselves, since the copies are put on the same stack as the original spell.
In order to abuse Sundial with Kiki-Jiki, simply make a copy of a creature and wait until your end step. When Kiki-Jiki's delayed trigger gets put on the stack and tries to make you sacrifice your copy, activate Sundial to end your turn. The sacrifice trigger will be exiled and you'll keep the copy forever and ever.
Maybe you could try out Lead the Stampede intead of a Tutelage or two. It can really refuel your hand with creatures, and each one is a relevant threat in this deck
Definitely consider running more artifact mana and a land denial suite. I recommend the following for artifact mana in addition to your Ingot:
Boros Signet
Worn Powerstone
Thran Dynamo
Fire Diamond
Coldsteel Heart
Marble Diamond
Palladium Myr
Coalition Relic
These cards both fuel Metalcraft and allow for an earlier Jor Kadeen to resolve.
I recommend having some land denial in Wasteland, Tectonic Edge and perhaps even Ghost Quarter. Definitely run Armageddon, maybe Ruination, and even something like Tsabo's Web would work well with your manabase. Further this plan by running Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to slow down their wraths/removal, Leonin Arbiter + Aven Mindcensor to strengthen your Paths and Ghost Quarters while disabling their fetches
Cut some of the clunky wrath effects (you only really need Wrath of God and maybe Hallowed Burial. The X spells also don't do much for you most of the time as you'd rather just cast equipment and bash in.
Run some artifact destruction, since you'll be hard-pressed to find an artifact-less Duel Commander deck. Smelt is the most efficient, but Into the Core is also decent. Alternatively Return to Dust and Disenchant are also good cards to have. In the interest of being efficient, I recommend Smelt and Disenchant.
In Planeswalker land, Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Elspeth, Knight-Errant are both excellent additions that provide power and evasion to Jor Kadeen to help him get through blockers.
Order//Chaos is an excellent card that is both removal and a finisher.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker has synergy with some etb creatures on your side and is an infinite combo with Restoration Angel and Zealous Conscripts.
True Conviction does more than Rage Reflection for the same CMC.
Grand Abolisher let's you do your own thing without an opponent countering your spells or use their pesky combat tricks on you.
Ancient Den and Great Furnace both fuel metalcraft and are basically free to play.
Sublime Archangel fits your Voltron theme very well if you have the budget for it. Linvala, Keeper of Silence does a good job of hosing mana dorks and other nasty activated abilities like Dwarven Miner or Viashino Heretic.
Elemental Mastery: I know what you're thinking. Are you mental, you'd ask. But no, I'm quite sane, and this card is just the nuts. Put this on a normal metalcrafted Jor Kadeen with no enhancements and you're looking at THIRTY-TWO power of elementals with haste on the field. This card is insanely good, and a must-have in Jor Kadeen decks.
Lightning Mauler: Sometimes you just wanna give Jor Kadeen or Hero of Bladehold haste and wreck face. Speaking of which, do run Hero of Bladehold too. It's one of the best 4-drop white cards ever printed.
Ethersworn Canonist: It's theoretically a good hatebear in this deck. You want to curve out each turn so you won't be casting more than one nonartifact spell a turn anyways, and it interferes with their gameplan while being another artifact and sword-bearer
See the spoiler below for cards to take out:
Bosh, Iron Golem: Without acceleration you'll never reach this point. This guy is simply too slow in a duel.
Precinct Captain: This guy belongs in a token strategy, and is too mediocre even for that
Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran: A worse Jor Kadeen that doesn't play well with your Voltron strategy.
Hoarding Dragon: There is always a risk of them exiling this thing thus also getting your artifact out of the way. It's also quite slow, so you might want to get Moltensteel Dragon instead, which is an artifact and also has natural pump that can come down a turn earlier. Still, this card has synergy with Kiki-Jiki
Junk Diver: Run Buried Ruin instead, imo.
Hellkite Igniter: At 7 mana it better do something amazing. You run <20 artifacts, so this thing isn't amazing nor really playable. Thundermaw Hellkite is a better Hellkite to run if you have it.
Elite Inquisitor: too small and doesn't have much impact.
Reya Dawnbringer: too slow and clunky
Blasphenous Act, Phyrexian Rebirth, Day of Judgment, Demonfire, Red Sun's Zenith, Brightflame: You should run other more efficient removal than this lot. Wrath of God is almost always just plain better than DoJ, so run that if you have it.
Sword of Vengeance, Basilisk Collar, Staff of Nin: Between SoV and Greaves, you're gonna search for Greaves more often. Collar is unimpressive without Cunning Sparkmage or a pinger, and Staff of Nin is just meh. Argentum Armor is also gonna give you headaches unless you cheat it out with Stonehewer Giant or Stoneforge Mystic. The inconsistency makes running it not that worthwhile. The few cases where it'll win you games are awesome though.
Glory of Warfare: Another card that's better in the token strategy which you're not running.
Some general musings about playing Jor Kadeen
Be fast and brutal. Make your opponent stumble on mana as you deploy your hatebears and double-striking beaters. If you have a Sworded creature, don't be afraid to just Armageddon and close out the game
Cards to consider from Gatecrash
Boros Charm: Doublestrike is the key thing you'll be using this Charm for, but giving your guys protection from a wrath effect is also nothing to scoff at. This gets to nod over Rootborn Defenses because it's cheaper and much more versatile. Run it and love it.
Assemble the Legion: This is one of the few times where a card that doesn't immediately impact the board is good enough to consider. This thing constantly spews out 4/1 haste creatures at an ever-increasing rate. What's not to love?
Mimeoplasm has out Dual Nature, which is wonderful for the Sun Titan in my hand. What I didn't realize was the interaction between Sharuum and Dual Nature. It just so happens that I had a Krark-Clan Ironworks in my graveyard and a Spine of Ish Sah in my hand. Once I realized the implications, this happened:
I cast Sharuum the Hegemon, targeting Krark-Clan Ironworks in my graveyard. Dual Nature triggers and puts a token of Sharuum onto the battlefield. The token's ability triggers, but isn't put on the stack until after state-based actions are checked. This means I can put it on the stack after Sharuum has died, allowing me to target Sharuum and repeat the loop to return all artifact cards from my graveyard to the battlefield.
Then, I kept recurring Sharuum, sacrificing it for mana every time Dual Nature triggers. This gives me infinite colourless mana and a sac outlet to Spine everything on my opponents' boards. ^^
Strange, isn't it?
4 Stormblood Berserker
3 Chandra's Pheonix
3 Vault Skirge
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 Spikeshot Elder
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Geistflame
3 Incinerate
3 Arc Trail
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Curse of Stalked Prey
3 Koth of the Hammer
1 Garruk Relentless
14 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Vulshok Refugee
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Dismember
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Naturalize
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
In the first Game Day event, we played 4 rounds and cut to top 4 (there were only 9 participants) for prizes. The tournament report will be spoilered below:
Round 2: Vs. GW Pod. I don't remember this game much since I faced the same deck in the top 4 and my impression of that match is stronger, but I took the match 2-1 after a close call in the 3rd game thanks to Shrine of Burning Rage. I sideboarded Stromkirk Nobles out because they were blocked by Birds and Viridian Emissary all too often, in favour of Ancient Grudge, Dismember and Naturalize
Round 3: Vs. MonoB Infect. Game 1 was a blur, I only remembered him not drawing Phyrexian Crusader and me winning with an aggressive start.
Game 2 I stuck a Stormblood Berserker whose thirst wasn't sated, but he soon grew thanks to the 2 Curse of Stalked Prey that I resolved afterward. Meanwhile, I drew perfectly and dispatched his triple Spellskite start with Ancient Grudge into Naturalize, then drew the Dismember to take care of his freshly cast Phyrexian Vatmother.
Meanwhile, I get pecked by Plague Stinger and eventually a hasty Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, which put me to 7 poison, and he cast a 2nd Vatmother. However, by this time, my Berserker was a 7/7, and he had to chump it with both his non-Skittles guys. I still had to chump block the Skittles with Chandra's Phoenix for a few turns, but eventually I dispatched the dragon with double Incinerate, and got there on the back of my growing creatures.
Round 4: ID into top 4. I was so glad I could do this, because this match was against my friend playing Heartless Summoning, and I can't beat the deck's nut draws (he once cast turn 2 double Myr Superion, which is hard to beat. Imagine having to deal with 2 Tarmogoyfs in standard by turn 2 that have already grown...)
Semi-Finals: Vs. GW Pod. Same pilot as before. Same result as before. In Game 1 I died after having to chump block a Wurmcoil Engine for a few turns and shooting my own guys, keeping him at 3-4 life but never drawing the Brimstone Volley I needed to finish him off.
Game 2 I quickly dispatched him with exact dmg. It went like this:
Turn 2: Stormblood Berserker vs. land, go.
Turn 3: Attack for 1, Stormblood Berserker, Vault Skirge. Him: Land, Sylvok Replica
Turn 4: Chandra's Phoenix, attack for 7 unblockable dmg. Him: Birthing Pod.
Turn 5: Dismember his Replica, attack for 7, Brimstone Volley for the last 5 dmg.
Game 3 was very scary, since he stabilized after my initial assault and resolved Wurmcoil Engine and Archon of Justice while remaining at 12 life. I had a Shrine of Burning Rage on 5 counters, but nothing on the board. The last 2 turns went something like this:
Him: Attack with Archon, Wurmcoil
Me: Ancient Grudge on Wurmcoil, ticking Shrine to 6, flash it back on a token, Shrine to 7
Him: Cast Solemn Simulacrum and Blade Splicer, go.
Me: Tick Shrine to 8, go. I'm at 6 life.
Him: Attack with the team.
Me: Grudge the Golem, Flash it back on Solemn, tick shrine to 10, take 5 going to 1 life. At this point I was so afraid of a Beast Within or something on my shrine, but that didn't happen. I'm holding an Incinerate in my hand, but only 4 lands so I cannot both cast it and activate Shrine. If I only activate Shrine, I only get him down to 1 life, so I need to topdeck the land. Indeed I do so and won at exactly 1 life thanks to Shrine of Burning Rage.
I split the finals with the Mono-B infect player.
In the second Game Day event, we played 4 rounds and final results are based on standings. I went 3-0-1, drawing in the final round and ending up 1st in tiebreakers.
Meet Doomed Traveler. An unimpressive 1/1 body for W, but you can slap a sword on it any day of the week and it becomes a force to be reckoned with. If they kill it with removal, who cares? You get yourself a Squadron Hawk to play with! Sure it doesn't search for other Doomed Travelers (if it did, it would be too too good), but the value it provides when it dies is good enough. If you guys liked Hawks you'll also love this guy.
The Mayor/Mentor nonsynergy is pretty annoying, and the fact that sometimes the Mayor ceases to pump your guys is also not cool. I think Avacyn Pilgrim needs to be in this deck to power out a turn 2 Mentor/Crusader. Other than that, well... Angelic Overseer is a pretty nice finisher, Geist-Honored Monk is good with Mentor and good at recovering you from board wipes, and Angelic Destiny is a surprisingly good card to slap onto a Mirran Crusader who only dies to Red removal spells (no more good instant speed blue bounce in the format!!).
Turn 1 Pilgrim
Turn 2 Crusader
Turn 3 Angelic Destiny, take 12?
I'm thinking of a version that's even more chock full of creatures, but I can see the benefit in having instant speed spells. Do consider Doomed Traveler, as that card is just so much value for so cheap. If it dies, you can get as many as 2 flying spirit tokens out of it, and it carries swords or takes up an Angelic Destiny very well.
Another card that might complement Angelic Overseer is Geist-honored Monk, as it makes more tokens and can perform well on both offense and defense. I can also see Divine Reckoning seeing play in this deck instead of Day of Judgment. Sure they get to keep their best guy (best hope it's not a Titan), but you get to keep your unblockable, hexproof clock, and I can bet you're the one winning that race. Plus with Reckoning you don't have to hope to draw a 2nd copy, just flash the 1st one back.
Just my 2c.
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: UW Shape Anew
In game 1, I ramped up and kept his land count low while applying beatdowns with Skinshifter and Wurmcoil Engine. He managed to get out Blightsteel Colossus, but attacked into my Wurmcoil (then Shape Anewed into another BC), which gave me the chance to Beast Within my own land to attack for lethal.
In game 2, I didn't draw the Slagstorm for his mono-Splicer draw and died to a bunch of flying 4/4s Golems.
Game 3 was close. He had amassed 3 5/5 Flying, First Strike Golems, while I had triple Overgrown Battlement and 2 Skinshifters. On the turn he was about to kill me, I topdecked a Roiling Terrain for exactly lethal and sealed the deal.
Round 3: UW control with Phantasmal Image
Game 1 I kept his land count at 2 and killed him with Wurmcoil Engine and Raging Ravine
Game 2 I still managed to keep his land count low, but he had Blade Splicer into Phantasmal Image and attacked through my Battlement before I could draw the Slagstorm to wipe the board.
Game 3 was rough. I got out the gates early with multiple Beast Within and Melt Terrain into Wurmcoil Engine, but on 2 lands he stuck a Phantasmal Image copying my Wurmcoil and started to slowly climb back up. I drew into Infernal Titan later, but got Celestial Purged away (he's still on 2 lands). Then he started drawing lands, while I fail to draw Skinshifter or Raging Ravine or even Chandra, the Firebrand. After 2 Timely Reinforcement and a Consecrated Sphinx plus Gideon Jura, I concede since I've run out of gas and finishers.
Round 4: UW Cawblade
Game 1 I curved out perfectly. Turn 2 Explore into turn 3 Beast Within on his upkeep, essentially timewalking him even though he had the Mana Leak for my BW. I then proceeded to untap and Melt Terrain his coloured lands while he missed land drops. The rest is just some Skinshifter and Raging Ravine beatdown.
Game 2 I sideboarded in Shrine of Burning Rage and kept a 4 land, Shrine, double Chandra hand. Turns out it was too slow and I lost to Emeria Angel + Squadron Hawk before drawing any LD.
Game 2 I desideboarded and again curved out perfectly while he missed his land drops again. Turns out double Goblin Ruinblaster just ruins Cawblade (pun intended).
I'm 2nd place at this point, behind the UW player that beat me in the 3rd round. In the top 4, again I'm paired with the UW Cawblade player I just defeated. We played 2 quick games where I didn't sideboard and won through perfectly timed LD, keeping him land-light while my little beaters swung in for lethal.
Final Impressions on Game Day: The deck performed as I expected, although I never got to play vs. Aggro (the Goblins and Vampire players both lost in the first round so I never saw them). I think I could have won round 3 had I drawn more Slagstorms. Chandra and Slagstorm both didn't show up often enough, which is just variance since I see them enough in testing.
Turn 3 Beast Within on the opponent's upkeep is one of the strongest things to be doing. It's essentially a Time Walk vs. most decks, especially the control decks. You want them to counter the spell, as it takes out a counterspell, taps down their mana, and ensures that they don't do anything else that turn. If the spell resolves, you've destroyed a land, and the Beast token is mostly irrelevant since you're likely to have Battlement or Slagstorm or Skinshifter to block it (plus it can't attack that turn). You might not want to do this vs Aggro, unless you have a Slagstorm in hand, but against control, it's the best thing to do. After this, they're often tapped out of counter mana, so you just calmly untap and land a Chandra or cast another LD spell, which puts you really far ahead.
1 Wurmcoil Engine and 1 Inferno Titan might be a bit too little for finishers. Once they're removed, you're out of ways to seal the deal quickly, but the deck needs a critical mass of LD, so it's tough to justify taking them out for more copies (perhaps I could take out the Acidic Slimes, but I'm unsure about this).
The sideboard is good vs. most of the field, but against Cawblade and variants, you really just want to stick to your gameplan. Unless you're really afraid of Hero of Bladehold, sometimes it's better to just keep in all your cards, and pretend to sideboard. Sure it's good to Dismember a Hero, but then you're giving up on your main plan. It's often the case that by just keeping the maindeck, you win game 2 (I find this to be true after playing vs. the UW Cawblade deck in top 4). Game 1 is heavily favoured for you, as you can surprise them with the LD and punish people who keep land light hands. Once you strip them of their lands, they're just dead to your manlands or Skinshifters.
Overall I had a blast playing the deck, and I'm looking forward to testing it at a more competitive level. I'd like to hear some feedback on things that could be improved about the deck, if possible. Thanks for reading!
4 Forest
5 Mountain
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Raging Ravine
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Copperline Gorge
Creatures:
1 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Acidic Slime
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Overgrown Battlement
3 Skinshifter
3 Explore
3 Melt Terrain
3 Roiling Terrain
4 Beast Within
3 Chandra, the Firebrand
1 Karn Liberated
3 Slagstorm
2 Pyroclasm
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
3 Dismember
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Nature's Claim
The deck is built to be resistant to Beast Within, and to punish Cawblade and other decks that rely on creatures with 3 or less toughness. Slagstorm wipes out most boards while keeping your own intact, and Overgrown Battlement is a great multipurpose card. It ramps, it protects you and your planeswalkers from the Beast Within tokens as well as any kind of early aggro, and most importantly, it survives Slagstorm.
Skinshifter is a very versatile card. It can be a finisher, a wall, an evasive beater that takes care of opposing planeswalkers, and it survives a Slagstorm.
The main plan right now is to ramp up on turn 2, land a Chandra, then start blowing up their lands while beating down with your choice of creatures or manlands. The 6-drop monsters are there for when you can't keep your foe down on lands throughout the game and need a way to close things in a hurry. You rarely need them, as the deck is not a ramp deck at heart, but a resource denial deck that has a good plan vs. both aggro and control.
Mindbreak Trap is designed to close out counterspell wars, where there is more than one spell on the stack. It can also counter spells with Storm that makes copies of themselves, since the copies are put on the same stack as the original spell.
In order to abuse Sundial with Kiki-Jiki, simply make a copy of a creature and wait until your end step. When Kiki-Jiki's delayed trigger gets put on the stack and tries to make you sacrifice your copy, activate Sundial to end your turn. The sacrifice trigger will be exiled and you'll keep the copy forever and ever.
Hope that helps!