It’s the end of another year, and quite a bit has changed in the world of Magic. The rotating of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block marked a last hurrah for the Fae, and gave way to a new deck: Jund. This deck had not only been established, but was already a powerhouse in Alara Block and made the transition to an extremely counter-light standard with ease, only adding a bit of mana fixing and a certain Green Planeswalker. The myriad of card advantage this deck generates, making every spell a two (or even three) for one creates an almost insurmountable obstacle for the opponent. The Magic 2010 Core Set gave us a powerhouse in the form of Baneslayer Angel, which has become a staple in every deck sporting White in Standard, even being a four-of in “Naya Lightsaber,” the deck touted as a Jund-Killer by Andre Coimbra, and took first place at the World Championships.
The release of Zendikar brought the absurdly innovative “Landfall” mechanic, the fuel for “Boros Bushwhacker.” Cards like Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede, which get power/toughness boosts with each land that their controller plays combined with cheap spells and Goblin Bushwhacker can force through ridiculous amounts of damage in very few turns.
While Standard may have a few top tier decks, the format is still completely dominated by Jund. The big deck in the format comprised over one-third of the field at Worlds, and its numbers on MTGO do not seem to be waning at all. With the price of a stock list hovering around $208 (Bloodbraid Elf playsets cost 14 tix, and a playset of Maelstrom Pulse is almost 100!), players with a smaller budget or with a desire to find a more balanced metagame may want to find a different format. Luckily, Zendikar Block Constructed events are here to solve those problems! Today, we’ll be looking in depth at many of the top tier decks in the Zendikar Block metagame, how they function, and how the fare against the other decks in the format.
The Great Black Menace
When Lorwyn left Standard, many players voiced their relief at the notion that tribal decks would finally be out of the format for a few years. While the tribal theme has been watered down quite a bit since then, tribes are always going to be a big part of the game. They appeal to the Timmies, and if properly engineered, can easily appeal to Spikes: Kithkin, Slivers, etc. The Vampire tribe is no exception. With cheap, efficient creatures, cheap removal, and an amazing finisher that can end a bloodied foe on the spot, this is definitely the powerhouse of the format. While the following list does stray a small bit from the stock lists, I feel most comfortable with this deck on game one against any matchup. The total cost for the deck is about 50 tix.
"Vampires", ZEN Block Constructed Daily #770247 by Rhythmik
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Efficient Creatures: Vampire Lacerator has been cut from many lists, but I feel two are necessary for Game One simply because they can put so much pressure on a Control player, and can force play mistakes. However, the full suite of the other Vampires is absolutely necessary. Bloodghast completely skirts all non-White removal (and is great fodder for an opposing Gatekeeper of Malakir). Vampire Hexmage clogs the ground, and shuts down opposing Ascensions. And Vampire Nighthawk/Malakir Bloodwitch are evasive powerhouses that can easily finish a game.
Cheap Removal: With anywhere from nine to twelve hard removal spells (and an extra eight in the sideboard) Vampires can muscle through almost any opposing forces. Main deck removal can be difficult to nail creatures you want – Gatekeeper of Malakir is awkward against opposing Bloodghasts and tokens. Disfigure typically requires a combat step to become hard removal. On multiple occasions, I’ve been stuck with multiple Feast of Blood in hand, no Bloodghast in the graveyard, and struggling to get my own critters to the board to cast it. However, after sideboarding, options become less awkward, and very precise. Hideous End is almost strictly better than Feast of Blood against everything not running Swamps; that extra two damage can suddenly give a conditional Bloodghast haste, be that last bit you need for an alpha strike, or push Malakir Bloodwitch to finish the opposition. Marsh Casualties can trade one-for-one with Conquerors Pledge and be a complete blowout in the mirror-match. Never be afraid to swing Bloodghasts into Vampire Nighthawks or Malakir Bloodwitches to use Marsh Casualties as a Plague Wind. This myriad of removal spells also really help fuel Quest for the Gravelord and Blade of the Bloodchief.
Silver Bullets: Blue/White Control beats you with top-tier removal, superior creatures, and absurd amounts of card drawing. However, they trade this off for being slow out of the gate. A turn five Mind Sludge completely rips their hand away, and almost assures you victory – if they don’t counter it. Green/Red Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle decks typically focus on using Khalni Heart Expedition and Harrow to muster enough Mountains to spring multiple Valakut triggers at once. Some people have placed Sadistic Sacrament in the sideboard to deal with this, but that does nothing for copies already in play or in the opponent’s hand. Desecrated Earth takes care of this before things can get too scary, and the discard rider is almost always relevant.
A Different Kind of Aggro: The best thing about this archetype is that it doesn’t always play Aggro. Creature choices in the early game really affect how the late game will play out. For an Aggro deck, we also have a surprising number of Five-Drops. Malakir Bloodwitch, Desecrated Earth, and Marsh Casualties with kicker can make an opening hand of four lands seem enticing.
Cons: As with any aggro deck, emptying your hand early has a huge “Risk vs. Reward” factor. Against Blue/White, slow rolling your creatures in anticipation of Day of Judgment is typically the best strategy. On the play, forcing an opponent to tap out for Day of Judgment on turn four to make way for Mind Sludge on Turn Five is the best (and typically only) way to defeat a nuts hand. Against Green/Red, Bloodghast is the main out to their heavy damage and removal capabilities. Even the effectiveness of Malakir Bloodwitch and Vampire Nighthawk are marginalized by Punishing Fire. The game is still very winnable without Bloodghast, but don’t expect to have an easy time without one.
Hello Rhythmik,
nice article. Do you see any trends in the metagame regarding those 3 archetypes? Which one do you think is currently most popular?
I haven’t played constructed for a while but might try a few matches to get a “feel” for the format.
The most popular deck in the format by far seems to be Vampires, mostly because the deck only costs about 20 tix to build if you don’t want to add fetchlands, not to mention the whole appeal to Timmies. Many decks in the format have card that used to be in the sideboard, like Spreading Seas, Spell Pierce, and Mind Sludge into the main just because of the prevelance of each deck’s foil in the metagame.
Well, is looking like Hexmage is only going to get that much better with the new set.
Hm. What’s going on in WWK, aside from maybe seeing more walkers played?
Removes Warcaller counters.
Multi-kicker, bro! Not gonna be a fun one! That Joraga warcaller is insanity! Quit making elves and gobbos, WoTC! Enough. Do Kavu or some crap!
I’d love to see Kavu return, and I did think about the Warcaller thing after I looked back at the spoilers. I’m looking to see if we’re going to get any reliable ways to put +1/+1 counters on creatures, since I do like combo, sometimes (: