Zendikar Decks Part I: Vampire Aggro

Welcome to the first article in my series on Zendikar decks. Polls will be running through the week to determine the next deck in the series, and the first one you guys picked was Vampire Aggro. Don't forget to vote for tomorrow's article!

Here's the deck I ended up using:

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:

4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Deathmark
2 Duress

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Mono-Red Burn

He wins the die roll, and we both mulligan to 6.

He plays a land and passes. I play Guul Draz Vampire. At EOT, he Burst Lightnings me. (18, 20) He plays Hellspark Elemental and swings. I take it. (15, 20). I untap, and swing. (15, 19). I play Bloodghast.

He passes, and I swing for 3. (15, 16). I play Vampire Nighthawk. He Bolts it. He plays Hell's Thunder and attacks. (11, 16). I swing back. (11, 13). I play another Bloodghast. He plays a second Hellspark and swings. (8, 13).

I attack with everything. (8, 8) and then play a Vampire Lacerator. He untaps, and unearths both Hellsparks. I Doom Blade one, and take 3. (5, 8). I attack with my Bloodghasts. (5, 4). He plays Goblin Ruinblaster and passes. I untap, and swing for the win.


Game 2 he elects to play. He keeps, and I mulligan to 6. He plays a land and passes, I play Guul Draz Vampire. Turn 2, he plays a land and passes. I Duress. I take Fallout, and attack. (20, 19). I then play a second Guul Draz Vampire.

He untaps, and Earthquakes for 1. (19, 18). He passes. I play Vampire Nighthawk. He plays double Burst Lightning to kill it. I untap, and play Bloodchief Ascension. He plays Hell's Thunder, and swings. (15, 18). I pass. He unearths Hell's Thunder and attacks. I Doom Blade it.

I untap and play another Bloodchief Ascension. Not the best topdecks. He plays Elemental Appeal and attacks. I Doom Blade it. I pass. Another land. He plays Quest for Pure Flame and Elemental Appeal. He swings. (8, 18). I draw nothing but lands for the next two turns and he plays and unearths Hell's Thunder to kill me.

Game 3 I choose to play, and we both mulligan to 6. Turn 1 I play Guul Draz Vampire. He plays a land and passes. I play Turn 2 Duress, and he aims a Bolt at me in response. (17, 20). I take Elemental Appeal, and swing. (17, 19). He plays a land and passes. I swing (17, 18) and play Vampire Lacerator.

He plays a land and passes. I swing (16, 15) and pass. He passes yet again. I swing, and he plays Fallout (13, 13).  I play Guul Draz Vampire and Bloodghast. He lays a land and passes. I swing, he plays another Fallout. (11, 11). I play another Bloodghast. He plays Elemental Appeal and swings. (4, 11).

I play a land, returning Bloodghast, then play Vampire Nocturnus. I swing with a 4/2 flying Bloodghast. (4, 7). I pass. He draws, plays Earthquake for 2 (2, 5) then Burst Lightnings me for the win.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Vampire Aggro

Note: My computer crashed while writing these, so the rest of the post will be fairly short.


Game 1 I keep a slow hand. He curves out basically perfectly and beats me before I put up much resistance.

Game 2 we trade for a while until I manage to get out multiple Bloodwitches and win that way.

Game 3 he gets the advantage, then I play Nocturnus. Unfortunately I then draw 3 swamps in a row and die.

0-2

Round 3 vs. Bant

Game 1 he plays Great Sable Stag with Rafiq of the Many. I die about as horribly as you'd expect.

Game 2 I play lots of guys, and by the time he stabilises I have 3/2's with fear to seal the deal.

Game 3 we play a long game. I eventually stick a Gatekeeper of Malakir with FOUR removal spells in hand. I then bash him to death over six turns killing everything he plays.

1-2

Round 4 vs. B/R Bloodchief

Game 1 his deck works perfectly, getting 3 counters on Bloodchief Ascension and Blightninging me to death.

Game 2 he stalls for a bit and I end up winning with Vampire Nocturnus's buff.

Game 3 we race. He eventually sticks an Ascension and Earthquakes my guys to activate it, but he's at 2 and I manage to kill him even with his active Ascension.

2-2

My Ranking: 2/5
Matches Won x2: 4/8

The ranking system will work as follows. I will rank the deck by consistency and power out of 5, then the amount of matches out of 4 won, x2, will be the rest of the score. At the end, I'll rank them all up.

Frankly, I don't think Vampire Aggro is that great, and B/R hate will keep it down. I rate it Tier 2.

See you soon with the next deck!

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!

Zendikar Decks

What kind of decks are going to show up in Zendikar? Of course, we don't know yet. But I have some ideas (ideas which I'll flesh out as more of Zendikar is revealed). Here are some decks I can see entering the mix:

W/B/R Control

Lands (26)

4 Arid Mesa
4 Obsidian Flats
6 Mountain
6 Plains
6 Swamp

Creatures (0)

Spells (34)

2 Ajani Vengeant
2 Chandra Nalaar
4 Day of Judgement
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Luminarch Ascension
4 Path to Exile
4 Pitfall Trap
4 Quest for the Gravelord
1 Sorin Markov
4 Terminate
3 Volcanic Fallout

The idea of this deck is to stick a quest early, then ride that or a planeswalker to victory. Wrathing the board then putting a 5/5 into play is very effective. The deck has plenty of Wrath effects and spot removal, as well as some threats that have to be dealt with.

Modern Suicide Black

Lands (25)

4 Crypt of Anadeem
20 Swamp

Creatures (19)

4 Black Knight
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Bloodghast

Spells (17)

4 Quest for the Gravelord
2 Consume Spirit
4 Doom Blade
4 Sign in Blood
3 Tendrils of Corruption

This deck has plenty of removal, as well as a lot of reach in the late-game in the form of Bloodghast, Quest for the Gravelord and Consume Spirit combined with Crypt of Anadeem (likely to provide 4-5 mana if all your creatures are killed). Sign in Blood also refills your hand.

Jund Redux

Lands (25)

3 Dragonskull Summit
2 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
2 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Verdant Marsh

Creatures (16)

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Putrid Leech
4 Vampire Nighthawk (hopefully replacable)

Spells (19)

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

Vampire Nighthawk is hopefully replacable by a better three-drop (Sprouting Thrinax?), especially if one is spoiled. Anathemancer is no longer a reliable maindeck, as the fetchlands don't stay in play long enough to burn players when Anathemancer is played. Boggart Ram-Gang and Kitchen Finks are also being removed. Hopefully we get a cool card to fill in our three-drop slot in Zendikar.

Other than that, most of the deck is pretty solid. Jund Hackblade replaces Boggart Ram-Gang, and the manabase is still excellent.

OMG Goblins

Lands (24)

24 Mountain

Creatures (28)

4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Deathraiders
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Goblin Razerunner
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Warren Instigator

Spells (8)

4 Dragon Fodder
4 Lightning Bolt

A big stupid Goblin deck. Obviously you want to get out a Warren Instigator and smash things with it, and thanks to Razerunners and Siege-Gang, you even have a mid-game. An alternate plan is to drop Goblin Chieftain, and then start smashing. A Siege-Gang with nine hasted power? Awesome. Note that this deck has a potential Turn 4 kill easily.

Turn 1 Goblin Guide, hit for 2.
Turn 2 Warren Instigator, hit for 2.
Turn 3 Goblin Chieftain, hit for 7.
Turn 4 hit for 9 plus whatever you dumped into play with Warren Instigator.

And those are a few decks I think could see play in post-Zendikar Standard. Once most of the set's been spoiled, I'll go over the decks again and see how they can be improved.

Until next time, may you jump the gun.

Zendikar Spoilers: Article 3

Hi readers! I'm going to be analyzing another bunch of Zendikar cards today. We should be back to regular articles for the next couple of days after this, until spoilers reach critical mass again. Let's go!

Goblin Guide
Creature - Goblin Scout
Haste Whenever Goblin Guide attacks, defending player reveals the top card of his or her library. If it's a land card, that player puts it into his or her hand.
"I've been all over this world. I even remember some of those places."
Illus. Warren Mahy	2/2

Wow. A 2/2 for R? With HASTE!? Of course, you're also giving your opponent land. However, think of it this way. 40% of the time, you're giving them a land. The other 60%, you get to SEE WHAT CARD THEY WILL DRAW NEXT. So this is a 2/2 haste for 1 mana, with a drawback that's active less than half of the time.

Can anyone say "chase rare"?

Chandra Ablaze
Planeswalker - Chandra
[+1]: Discard a card. If a red card is discarded this way, Chandra Ablaze deals 4 damage to target creature or player. [-2]: Each player discards his or her hand, then draws three cards. [-7]: Cast any number of target red instant and/or sorcery cards from your graveyard without paying their mana cost.
Illus. Steve Argyle #120/249	5

Impressive. I could see this appearing in a burn deck as a finisher. After you throw your Bolts and other burn spells, play Chandra, ramp her up, and play them all again in an almost certain death barrage.


This could also be used in Warp World, since you can recur Warp World with her ultimate. Pretty sweet. Also, it goes without saying that this will own you in draft and Sealed.

Vampire Lacerator
Creature - Vampire Warrior
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life unless an opponent has 10 or less life.
The lacerators cut themselves before each hunt. They must feed before the sun rises or bleed to death.
Illus. Steve Argyle #115/249	2/2

Holy crap. Wizards really is pushing the Vampire mechanic. And is that a COMMON? I can see black being a fast color in Zendikar. If you've got a slow draft deck, you could get overwhelmed pretty fast here.

Halo Hunter
Creature - Demon
Intimidate (This creature can be blocked only by artifact creatures or creatures that share a color with it.) When Halo Hunter enters the battlefield, destroy target Angel.
Illus. Chris Rahn #96/249	6/3

The thing I like about this card is also the most obvious. They fixed Fear, like they always meant to do! For those of you thinking this might see play to kill Baneslayer Angel, think again. Everyone always thinks of her as a 5/5 flying, first strike lifelink creature, but she has protection from demons (and dragons) as well. So no Baneslayer-blowing-up for this Demon.


That being said, a 6/3 Fea...Intimidate is a pretty good deal, especially if your opponent's playing White in Limited, because they might just have an Angel.

Iona, Shield of Emeria
Legendary Creature - Angel
Flying As Iona, Shield of Emeria enters the battlefield, choose a color. Your opponents can't play spells of the chosen color.
	7/7

This is a card I could see playing in EDH, and multiplayer, and Sealed / Draft. However, unless there's a =< 4 CMC reanimator in Zen, this won't see much competitive play.

Arid Mesa
Land
, Pay 1 Life, Sacrifice Arid Mesa: Search your library for a Mountain or Plains card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
#221/249

I don't even know where to BEGIN. Arid Mesa and it's friends (especially, ESPECIALLY the B/G one) will command $15-20 price tags, I reckon. Extended and Standard will love them, and it's an extra dual for EDH too. With this, the tri-lands, and Expanses, enemy-color decks are viable again, and I like that. Of course, what Wizards are really pushing with these in T2 is shard decks. Note to self: try and use my Maelstrom Pulse skills to open B/G fetchlands this time! (As a little aside, I once opened 3 Maelstrom Pulses in a dozen packs of Alara Reborn. That was a big part of my decision to go Jund.)

Windrider Eel
Creature - Fish
Flying Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, Windrider Eel gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
	2/2

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a great Limited common. An evasive guy that's a 4/4 for 4 as often as not? (And combined with Harrow, is just sick.) If you open one of these in your Sealed pool (easily splashable too!) there's a good chance you'll play it. I like this card for Limited. It's the kind of staple you always try to pick up a couple of fourth to seventh pick for your deck.

Quest for Ancient Secrets
Enchantment
Whenever a card is put into a graveyard, you may put a quest counter on Quest for Ancient Secrets. Remove five quest counters from Quest for Ancient Secrets and sacrifice it: Shuffle your graveyard into your library.

Why, WHY couldn't this have been "target player's graveyard into their library."? That would have made the card, I dunno, PLAYABLE. This is jank, unless milling makes a huge comeback. It won't.

Scythe Tiger
Creature - Cat
Shroud When Scythe Tiger enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you sacrifice a Forest.
	3/2

Another awesome common? I swear, Wizards is printing a cycle: Totally Bitchin' 1-mana Common Dudes. I don't know if this'll see play, but Shroud makes it hard to 2-for-1. Only time will tell.

Murasa Pyromancer
Creature - Human Warrior Ally
Whenever Murasa Pyromancer or another ally you control enters the battlefield under your control, you may have Murasa Pyromancer deal damage to target creature equal to the number of allies you control.
	3/2

This is the kind of card that you won't play in Sealed, but if you open it in a draft, will be rewarded for first-picking it later on. Unless you have half a dozen allies in your deck, I wouldn't play this in Sealed. I also doubt it will impact Constructed.




Well, thanks for listening to my opinions on Zendikar. See you tomorrow!

Zendikar Spoilers! 25 / 229

Hello bloggers! Today I'll be writing about the Zendikar spoilers again, since FNM was very boring. As there's now 33 non-basics to analyse, I'll be analysing more Zendikar cards tomorrow. Let's get right to it!

Warren Instigator
Creature - Goblin Berserker
Double Strike Whenever Warren Instigator deals damage to an opponent, you may put a Goblin creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.

This isn't as broken as some people may think it is. Standard is well equipped to handle it, with Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Doom Blade, Terminate and any Zendikar removal 2 mana or less able to come down before the Instigator can swing. Yes, it's powerful, but this is more of a Legacy card than a Standard card.

Still, it might be enough to put Goblins to the top. Keep an eye on this little tribe. And in Extended, maybe Lorwyn's goblins (with up to 12 lords) might find a home...

Lullmage Mentor
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Whenever a spell or ability you control counters a spell, you may put a 1/1 blue Merfolk creature token onto the battlefield. Tap seven untapped Merfolk you control: Counter target spell.
"Many voices are needed to quiet this land.

A decent card to try to build around, but seven Merfolk would have to be prodigious, and countering spells really isn't worth it. I don't think this will see play.

Kazuul Warlord
Creature - Minotaur Warrior Ally
Whenever Kazuul Warlord or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on each Ally creature you control.
On expeditions, minotaurs are worth their weight in gold. Fortunately for the paymasters, most minotaurs don't know how much they weigh.
Illus. Kev Walker	3/3

This will be a great Limited card, I think. Since it enters as a 4/4 for 4 and only gets bigger and bigger, it'll probably be a bomb. I don't see it seeing play in Constructed, however. I'll keep my eye on this for Limited though.

Soul Stair Expedition
Enchantment
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a quest counter on Soul Stair Expedition. Remove three quest counters from Soul Stair Expedition and sacrifice it: Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.

 I really like the Quest mechanic. I like 'subgames' in Magic where you're going for another aim. This mechanic REWARDS YOU FOR PLAYING MAGIC, and that's always powerful. Hi, Tarmogoyf!

This probably won't see too much play since it's so reactive, but it's a cool sealed and Draft card. Tomb Lord's Quest on the other hand...

Electropotence
Enchantment
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay . If you do, that creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.
Illus. Christopher Moeller

Electropotence is probably not going to be a great card outside of EDH, unfortunately. I like the card, but it takes 6 mana to do anything, and that's not a good sign.

Goblin Ruinblaster
Creature - Goblin Shaman
Haste Kicker -  When Goblin Ruinblaster enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, destroy target nonbasic land.
	2/1

Cool! This is a pretty decent card, and might see play in Constructed, as it's card advantage (and Fulminator Mage saw occasional play). I think this could work. Tempo = good.

Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
Legendary Creature - Vampire Warrior
, : Destroy target creature. If that creature is put into a graveyard this way, put a black Vampire creature token onto the battlefield. Its power is equal to that creature's power and its toughness is equal to that creature's toughness.
Illus. Todd Lockwood #99/249	5/5

Another Limited bomb. This could see play as a 1 or 2-of in MBC, or even an EDH general for Mono-Black. I see it's play being sporadic, however.

Mindbreak Trap
Instant - Trap
If an opponent cast three or more spells this turn, you may pay  rather than pay Mindbreak Trap's mana cost. Exile any number of target spells.
"Life is a maze. This is one of its dead ends." - Noyan Dar, Tazeem lullmage

At first it seems terrible, but this is actually an Extended / Legacy / Vintage card, made to counter Storm decks. Combined with Pact of Negation to protect it, this could hurt Storm a fair bit (though Storm will probably side in Guttural Response to fight it). This isn't a Standard card. No sir.

Vampire Nighthawk
Creature - Vampire Shaman
Flying Deathtouch Lifelink
	2/3

Nice. Even nicer with Vampire Nocturnus. Wizards is pushing Vampire Aggro as a deck, that's for sure. It might just work, too. I look forward to seeing how this develops.

Eternity Vessel
Artifact
Eternity Vessel enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it, where X is your life total. Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have your life total become equal to the number of charge counters on Eternity Vessel.

As quoted from the Mtgsalvation forums:

"This is a card that will get me physically beaten, and I love it." This is the ULTIMATE annoyance, and an excellent card for control. If you drop this at 10+ life, you almost can't lose. This'll probably only see play as a 2-of in control, but may work in Sealed.

That's our 10 for today! Join us tomorrow for more Zendikar goodness!