Zendikar Decks Part II: B/R Bloodchief

Hello readers, and welcome to part two of my Zendikar decks series. Today's post will be about B/R Bloodchief. This deck focuses on playing a Bloodchief Ascension and activating it as quickly as possible. It then uses cards such as Blightning and sweepers to put cards in the opponent's graveyard and deal lots of damage.

Here's the decklist I used:

Lands (20)

4 Akoum Refuge
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
8 Swamp

Creatures (16)

4 Goblin Guide
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Vampire Lacerator

Spells (24)

4 Blightning
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Earthquake

Sideboard:

4 Deathmark
3 Duress
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Hideous End

I hopped onto MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Four-Color Control

We start off with ETBT lands. I play Vampire Lacerator, which he Agony Warps. He Esper Charms, and I counter with Blightning and another Lacerator. He plays Baneslayer Angel, then another a couple of turns later, and beats me to death with them.

Game 2 he mulligans to 5. I use Hellspark Elemental, and get some early Goblin Guide action. He gets rid of it  already at 10 life. We pass for a couple of turns, then he Time Warps twice. I drop a Lacerator, and hit him a couple of times. Lightning Bolt and Earthquake are enough to end it.

Game 3 he Spell Pierces a Bloodchief Ascension and Burst Lightning. He Blightnings me, and Pierces another Ascension. I play a third Ascension and beat down with a Lacerator. I activate it and he Esper Charms it. I knock him to 8 with double Lacerator before he Day of Judgements them. I Goblin Guide him to 6, and he plays Baneslayer Angel. I Hideous End it and he scoops it up.

1-0

Round 2 vs. BGW Landfall

He plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra. I Bolt it. I swing with a Hellspark, he plays another Cobra and Cobras into a Bloodghast. I kill the Cobra again. He hits with Bloodghast, and then drops a Knight of the Reliquary. He plays an Ob Nixilis a turn or two later and when he plays another fetchland I scoop.

Game 2 I kill a Lotus Cobra, but he plays a second and third one. I don't find enough removal. He plays double Steppe Lynx and landfalls his way to victory over a few turns. I barely get him to 10.

1-1

Round 3 vs. Naya

He opens with a Nacatl. I Bolt it and play Goblin Guide. With the aid of his fetchlands I start beating him down. He plays a 5/5 Reliquary. He plays a Behemoth Sledge, but I trick him into a block and then double Burst Lightning it. I get him down to 5, but he equips a Nacatl with Behemoth Sledge and manages to outrace me.

Game 2 I open with a Goblin Guide, and he opens with a Birds. He plays a Nacatl and a Ranger of Eos. When he plays Behemoth Sledge, I Fallout the board, leaving him at 11. He plays a Nacatl and equips it, but I quake for 5. I Deathmark his next Nacatl. He plays 2 Hierarchs and equips Behemoth Sledge. I pray for a quake off the top, and I get it.

Game 3 I mulligan to 6 and play a Turn 2 Bloodchief Ascension. He plays Behemoth Sledge. I Hellspark him. He plays a Nacatl and I Bolt him at EOT. I play Fallout leaving him at 12 life. He Purges my active Ascension. I swing him to 8, but he gets a 5/5 lifelink Nacatl, and I never draw another Deathmark.

1-2

Round 4 vs. Soldiers

I play a Turn 1 Bloodchief Ascension, and he plays Elite Vanguard. I pass, he plays Honor and attacks. I ho-hum, and take 3. I Burst Lightning him at EOT, then Goblin Guide him. He plays Kor Aeronaut. I swing, he Paths the Guide. I Earthquake for 3 to activate my Ascension. He attacks. Next turn I Blightning him, then I manage to Blightning + Hellspark for exactly lethal the turn after that.

Game 2 He passes. I play Goblin Guide and attack, and he plays White Knight. I Bolt it. He plays Honor of the Pure, I play Bloodchief Ascension and swing. He plays a second Honor and Sigilled Paladin, which I Deathmark. I swing. He Paths my Guide, so I Fallout an empty board to activate Ascension. He plays Kor Aeronaut. I Blightning him to 3 life and 0 cards in hand, then Deathmark his one creature. I win shortly after.

2-2

Salivanth's Rating: 3.5/5
Matches Won x2: 4/8

Total Score: 7.5

I like B/R Bloodchief, but I think B/R Blightning is better. The Bloodchief often gets killed or doesn't activate and it warps your game too much. Goblin Guide is awesome, I don't know about Lacerator. I'd recommend upping the curve by removing the Bloodchief Ascensions and the Lacerators and adding in some strong 3-4 mana cards.

Make sure to vote for tomorrow's deck in the polls!

See you tomorrow!

Zendikar Decks Part II

I promised in my original Zendikar Decks article here that I'd eventually flesh out these decks. Now is the time for me to do that. I'll propose 7 decks, and I intend to test them, one per day, (except for Saturday) for a week. I'll allow people to vote on their choice. Here are the decks:

W/B/R Control.

Lands (26)

4 Arid Mesa
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Marsh Flats
4 Mountain
5 Plains
5 Swamp

Creatures (4)

4 Baneslayer Angel

Spells (30)

3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Day of Judgement
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Luminarch Ascension
3 Martial Coup
4 Path to Exile
4 Sign in Blood
3 Terminate

Sideboard:

4 Celestial Purge
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Solemn Offering
4 Volcanic Fallout

The deck has 7 Wraths, and ample finishers. It can finish from several angles. It has card draw in Sign in Blood, and plenty of spot removal. It's a rough draft, but could turn into quite a deck.

New Time Sieve

Lands (18)

7 Island
5 Plains
6 Swamp

Creatures (0)

Spells ()

4 Day of Judgement
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Font of Mythos
4 Howling Mine
4 Kaleidoscope
4 Mistvein Borderpost
4 Obelisk of Esper
4 Open the Vaults
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Time Sieve
4 Time Warp

Sideboard:

4 Celestial Purge
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Meddling Mage
4 Path to Exile

The deck loses a bit, and doesn't gain much, but the deck still has Tier 1 potential. An extra Tezzeret has been added for the non-combo finish. Obelisk of Esper acts as Borderposts 9-12, and the Day of Judgement is there to stop Vampires.

Vampire Aggro

Lands (24)

24 Swamp

Creatures (26)

4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Guul Draz Vampire
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus

Spells (10)

4 Doom Blade
2 Duress
4 Sign in Blood

Sideboard:

2 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Deathmark
2 Duress
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Ravenous Trap

The deck is fast, has some late-game plans, light disruption, removal and card draw, and it's VAMPIRES. Who doesn't like Vampires? The Ravenous Trap in the sideboard is against Time Sieve. Absolutely destroys them.

B/R Bloodchief Blightning

Lands (24)

4 Akoum Refuge
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
8 Swamp

Creatures (18)
2 Ball Lightning
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Vampire Lacerator

Spells (18)

4 Blightning
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard:

3 Banefire
4 Deathmark
4 Duress
2 Terminate
2 Volcanic Fallout


This deck is a fairly simple B/R deck. The idea is to beat the opponent to death, either with or without a Bloodchief Ascension.

New Jund

Lands (25)

4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures (16)

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
4 Vampire Nighthawk

Spells (19)

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Sign in Blood

Sideboard:

4 Deathmark
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Jund Hackblade
4 Volcanic Fallout

A Jund list with many of the same traits as pre-Zendikar Jund: the ability to play as aggro or control, a malleable sideboard, and a lot of sheer power, and Cascade.

New Warp World

Lands (23)

7 Forest
9 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures (29)

4 Birds of Paradise
2 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Keeper of Progenitus
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Siege-Gang Commander

Spells (8)

4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World

Sideboard:

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Thought Hemorrhage
4 Vithian Renegades
3 Volcanic Fallout

Most of the deck remains the same. The main additions are Ob Nixilis, who is a BEATING if you get 3-4 lands off Warp World, and Lotus Cobra to power out more fast starts.

Soldiers

Lands (24)

23 Plains

Creatures ()

4 Captain of the Watch

4 Elite Vanguard

4 Kazandu Blademaster

4 Kor Aeronaut

4 Veteran Armorsmith

4 Veteran Swordsmith

Spells ()

2 Conqueror's Pledge

4 Honor of the Pure

4 Path to Exile

3 Brave the Elements

Sideboard:

3 Baneslayer Angel

1 Brave the Elements

4 Celestial Purge

3 Devout Lightcaster

4 Harm's Way

This is an archetypal White Weenie deck: plenty of guys, some modern token-producers, and the Anthem of choice, Honor of the Pure. Also features the anti-removal Brave the Elements as a new addition.

So those are our seven. Be sure to vote for which one should be tested first in the poll!