Zendikar Decks Part IV: Warp World

Welcome readers, to Part Four of the Zendikar Decks series. Today, we tackle Warp World.

Here's the decklist I chose:

Lands: (23)

4 Forest
5 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures: (29)

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

Spells (8)

4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Match 1 vs. U/B Mill

Game 1 he gets manascrewed while I get a Turn 4 Siege-Gang Commander and a Turn 6 Hellkite. His only plays are Hedron Crab and Jace.

Game 2 he plays a Turn 1 Hedron Crab. I play a Savage Lands. He plays a fetch, then Archive Traps me when I sacrifice my own fetch. I play Lotus Cobra.

I get to Warp World mana, and he mills me down to 12 cards in library. In my last turn before I die, I play Warp World and float 2 mana. He goes from 8 permanents to 4, and I get two Lotus Cobras and five lands so I can play another Warp World. This one gets him to one permanent, and I flip over Ob Nixilis. The landfall triggers kill him.

1-0

Match 2 vs. White Control

I get some early ramps, and lay out my hand. He casts Day of Judgement. He plays a Seraph and a Baneslayer, and I don't reach Warp World mana in time.

Game 2 I get a Turn 4 Ob Nixilis, and he uses Lapse of Certainty. He plays Guardian Seraph, I play Ob Nixilis, then play and sac a fetchland. He O-Rings it. I go for a Warp World, and he Lapses it. I play Warp World with one in hand. He gets Iona, Shield of Emeria and names red. He kills me with the giant flier next turn.

1-1

Match 3 vs. Naya

I play Lotus Cobra and Elvish Visionary: he plays Bloodbraid Elf into Trace of Abundance. He plays Cliffrunner Behemoth and a Garruk, then another Cliffrunner. When he uses his ultimate, I can't keep up with the raw power.

Game 2 We both play Trace of Abundance. He plays Cliffrunner. I play Keeper of Progenitus. He uses Bituminous Blast to cascade into another one, then finishes it with two Lightning Bolts to the dome.

1-2

Match 4 vs. Four-Color Midrange

He plays Noble Hierarch, I play Lotus Cobra. He Paths it, and plays Knight of the Reliquary. I get Ob Nixilis plus a fetch to out-do the 6/6 Knight. He passes. I swing, he goes to 2, and I Hellkite him to win.

Game 2 I curve out massively into a Turn 4 Warp World. Unfortunately, his 3 lands flip up 3 lands. I play Hellkite, he plays Rhox War Monk and Harrow. I get him to 4 life but he plays Baneslayer, then Realm Razer next turn. I chump with Birds and eventually Hellkite, but am never able to draw an answer.

Game 3 I get a Warp World, but he's lucky enough to Warp into Baneslayer while I fail to Warp into my finishers, and he bashes me to death.

1-3

Salivanth's Rating:

3.5/5

Matches x2:

2/5

Total Score: 5.5

I think the main reason Warp World failed was both my lack of knowledge of when to Warp, and the luck and raw power of some of my opponents' decks. When the metagame shifts to accommodate control, Warp World should become a lot better.

Next time: New Jund!

Zendikar Decks Part III: W/B/R Control

Hello everyone and welcome to Zendikar Decks Part III! Today's deck is W/B/R Control. Here's the decklist I chose to run:

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
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Martial Coup
3 Path to Exile
4 Sign in Blood
3 Terminate
4 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard:

3 Blightning
4 Celestial Purge
4 Deathmark
1 Martial Coup
2 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Path to Exile

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Naya

Unfortunately I lost the notes for this match. I lost, but it went to 3 games. It was his bombs vs. my removal, and in Games 1 and 3 he drew better, and in Game 2 I drew better.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Jund Landfall Ramp

He plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra, which I Terminate. I lay a Chandra, and he gets a Harrow / Khalni Heart combo to put loads of land in play. I bolt an Ob Nixilis, and lay Ajani. I then have a fully charged Chandra. The game is over quickly as my planeswalkers burn him out.

Game 2 we play land-go for a while until I drop Ajani. He drops Ob Nixilis. I bolt it and start building up Ajani. He plays Broodmate Dragon. I Day of Judgement and get to 7 counters on Ajani. He Earthquakes for 7. Must be nice...

I drop Chandra and start building THAT up. He plays Baloths and Harrow for 14 power of dudes. I Day of Judgement again and build up to 8 counters on Chandra. I win next turn.

1-1

Round 3 vs. Mill.dec

He plays Birds of Paradise, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Grazing Gladehart. I'm confused. When in doubt, kill it. So I Volcanic Fallout. I drop Ajani, he drops Lotus Cobra and a fetch. Damn it. He plays a Khalni Gem. It could be worse. He kills Ajani next turn. I drop another one to kill Lotus Cobra. He Traumatizes me. Ow. I start building up Ajani, but he Archive Traps me, and then Trapmaker's Snares for Archive Trap #2. I  lose.

Game 2 I manage to get stuck on 2 land and he gets a Lotus Cobra. He Mind Funerals me, and plays Grazing Gladehart before I draw into red and manage to bolt the Cobra. He Traumatizes me. I Blightning him but he's gaining lots of life off Gladehart. He Traumatizes me again, and then searches for an Archive Trap a few turns later, still sittin' pretty at over 15 life.

1-2

Round 4 vs. Valakut Burn

He starts out with a Goblin Guide, revealing no lands several times. I Sign In Blood to find more land, but my life's plummeting. I manage to Path the Guide and play a Baneslayer, and he Lightning Bolts + Fallouts it. He lays Valakut and Bolts me to single-digits. This is NOT good. I fail to draw any stabilising cards, and die quickly.

This game made me want to kill myself painfully. He starts out with double Quest for Pure Flame and starts dropping burn creatures like Hellspark and Ball Lightning. I Path, Purge or Terminate each one of them. This continues for a LONG time but I can't draw a finisher, despite siding more in. Eventually he drops a Valakut and burns me to death. I didn't have any way of dealing with burn besides attacking with Baneslayer. Number of finishers in the deck: 8. Number of cards I drew in that game: 20ish.

1-3

Salivanth's Rating: 1.5/5
Matches Won x2: 2/8

Score: 3.5

This deck is terrible. I don't give it a one because when it did get the mana right, against a creature deck, it was hard to beat. All control decks should be though. The deck has several flaws:

Lack of ability to close the game. I should have added Luminarch Ascension.

Bad mana. This is a 2-color or shard based format. Even 4 colors are better than 3 enemy colors. Seriously. Don't play with an arc deck. It WILL FAIL.

Total inability to deal with non-permanents. This is not good in a deck that needs to be able to answer everything the opponent plays.

Do not play this deck, for the love of god. If you're desperate for a control deck I'll make another one, but don't play this one!

See you tomorrow with Warp World!