Naya Auras Deck T3ch with Wizard Den!

Hey guys! Last week I talked about a deck that was seeing some success at a few events and I did fairly well with it myself, but this week I got a new deck that I believe is way more versatile and can protect itself from all the things that the Mono-Green aggro just couldn't do. Today I'm going to talk a bit about the Naya Auras deck.

I decided to give this deck a test run myself at our FNM last night at Wizard Den and I really like it. Despite a few consistency flaws it may have(as any deck could), it's super difficult to deal with whether your answers for creatures are spot removal a la Doom Blade, or board sweepers a la Supreme Verdict. A majority of the creatures are hexproof, can't be targeted by Black/Red spells or they just make another creature when they die. If you haven't seen it yet, here's a basic list of the deck that most people seem to be leaning towards in the lists online.

Naya Hexproof/Auras:

Creatures: 16
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Hero of Iroas
4 Witchstalker
2 Fiendslayer Paladin

Enchantments: 16
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Madcap Skills
4 Unflinching Courage
4 Chained to the Rocks

Spells: 6
4 Boros Charm
2 Selesnya Charm

Lands: 22
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Temple of Plenty
2 Forest
1 Plains

16 Creatures is a little on the low side, but you generally only need one out to get this going so it's not too bad. In a pinch, Selesnya Charm can make a creature for you too. After you have a guy out and suited up with some enchantments, all you have to do is protect it. The creatures themselves are already difficult to deal with and highly resistant to spot removal, so wrath effeccts are what's going to be your downfall. Luckily, one of Boros Charm's modes gives your creatures Indestructible for the turn! If you don't need to use your Boros Charm for the wrath protection, you can always give your big guy double strike, or just finish off your opponent with the 4 damage.

Not only are these creatures tough to deal with, but Voice of Resurgence and Witchstalker both make control players cringe. Acting out on your turn proves to make things worse for them and on top of that, you're still left with a guy ready to swing after they drop the wrath. Control players aren't the only ones that have a hard time though. Black/x mid-range/control shells struggle a bit without a set of Devour Flesh to get around those hexproof guys. Even then though, there's generally a Voice or another creature out that can be used as Devour fodder. Blood Baron can be a little bit of a problem as it blocks Voice, Hero and Fiendslayer Paladin favorably, but any other creature you have swings without fear(probably with first strike).

Domri fighting is a good way to beat this deck since it can sometimes be hard to get your creature's toughness big enough to spar with a Polukranos. The hexproof helps, but for the ones without hexproof(or Fiendslayer Paladin), you have to be especially careful with when playing against the R/G/x monsters decks out there.

If you're looking for an aggro deck that can dodge spot removal and have some defense against wrath spells, this might be your deck! I know I've been frustrated with aggro variations because you could usually only protect against one or the other, but Naya Auras seems to handle both masterfully. This deck has also been performing quite well in the competitive circuit and I'm interested to see if it keeps going on this route. If so, you just might see me at the next PTQ with this deck! Regardless of how this deck will perform in the future for the pro scene, I've really enjoyed the deck and if you like to beat face with huge First Strike-Trample-Lifelinkers that your opponent can't do anything about, than maybe this deck is for you too!

Give it a try and let me know what you think of the archetype or if should be shelved!

Until next time,
DannyO
WizardDen.com

New deck that could change the format with Wizard Den!

Hey guys! I'm back for another article and this week it's going to be a deck tech of a list I found while in Spokane, WA for the PTQ a few weeks back. We managed to get in early enough on Friday the day before the event to attend their local Friday Night Magic where I first discovered this deck. It was very simple, but surprisingly fast and annoyingly difficult to deal with. The deck was a Mono-Green aggro piloted by a guy named Stephen Girdner. He ended up crushing me at FNM and I spoke with him later on the next day after I had finished dropping from the event at 3-3 and decided to get in a draft to lift my spirits. He said he was drawing into the top 8 at the time and he allowed me to look through his deck and sideboard. I'm writing this from memory, so it's probably not exactly card-for-card, but here's the idea:

Mono-Green Aggro

Creatures: 34
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
2 Wasteland Viper
2 Gyre Sage
4 Kalonian Tusker
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Swordwise Centaur
2 Boon Satyr
4 Renegade Krasis
2 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Mistcutter Hydra

Spells: 4
4 Aspect of Hydra

Lands: 22
20 Forest
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

He mentioned he was able to make the Top-8 cut in two PTQ's in two weeks so, needless to say, I was impressed. I was excited for this deck and couldn't wait to try it out for myself. I threw it together and gave it a test run at an FNM and it was very good! I managed to beat Mono-Blue and other various aggro archetypes simply because the creatures in this deck are just as fast as every other aggro deck, but mine are bigger! Tons of 3 powered creatures coming out on turn two and Experiment Ones becoming 3/3 or even 4/4 by turn 2-3 make this deck a very formidable foe.

While playing the deck, I seem to be tempted into splashing other colors for some other powerful creatures, but the deck works so well on its own that I have to force myself to leave it alone. Splashing another color just gives you lands that come into play tapped and severely slows down the deck, not to mention cutting down on your devotion which makes Aspect of Hydra possibly the best card in the deck.

This deck is a lot of fun for those of you who enjoy some turning lots of guys sideways. If any of you decide to try it out, let me know what you think and what kinds of changes you would make!

Thanks for reading,
DannyO
Wizard Den

Fostering a healthy Magic community with Wizard Den!

       So, if you all haven't heard yet... We're open for business! Wizard Den is proud to be a part of the magic community here in Boise and we hope to represent that community in the most positive way possible. One of our main goals is to be that shop that anyone can feel comfortable walking into and spending their day enjoying some magic related fun. We will strive to have competitive prices and friendly faces behind the counter.

       That being said, I'd like to talk about what I believe is important to strengthening and maintaining a healthy magic community in your area.

       A major aspect of our daily plans at Wizard Den is to make sure that we cater to everyone's needs. We don't currently sell anything other than Magic related products, but we make it a point to educate our customers that we are willing to order anything they could want from our distributors. It can still turn people away if we don't readily provide the services they want, but it's a start. I think that it's very important to make sure that every person that walks in the door knows that they can be helped no matter what they want.

       Along those same lines, we will always do our best to listen to the people's needs for events. I will always be looking for suggestions on daily events and I have no problem running multiple events daily. For now, we have an event schedule that you can find at WizardDen.com, but if the community expresses an interest in an event on a day we don't currently offer an event for, we'll do it! We're also open to suggestions for prizes on each and every event we host(even though it may effect the price of entry).

       Specifically to Boise, I feel that the Modern crowd has been dying off and the Legacy crowd even more so. We here at Wizard Den want everyone to be taken care of no matter what format you love the most, but it's difficult to meet the needs of everyone. We plan to have 2 weekly Modern events, Monday and Saturday, but no Legacy as of now. There was some drama a few months back that seemed to have driven off some legacy players and I think the only way we can get that back on track is, other than just scheduling events, getting those people here to play. We all love Magic and the formats we choose to play should not deter others from getting together to play. One of my biggest personal goals for Wizard Den is to get Legacy started up again in the valley and I can't do it without you, the players!

       We've discussed the legacy thing a bit here, and we've hit a lot of snags that seem to make it impossible. One aspect being prize support. If we offer good legacy staples for prizes, the people who don't have the money to get the tier-1 decks will be turned away, because they feel there's no way they can beat the people who already have the good cards, and those people get the good prizes to further monopolize the accessibility to the format.

       Another issue is the use of proxies. This will allow the people who don't have the money to get into legacy the ability to proxy the cards they need to play, giving them the best chance to compete in the event. However, it's not very fun if everybody proxies 40-50 cards in their deck. Seeing as how expensive some cards can be, this is likely to happen.

       With all of those difficulties(and others unmentioned), I think I've found a way to make everyone happy, at least a little. We will have a specified entry fee for the day. You get signed up into a group with other legacy players for the day. There are no rounds or pairings, rather you just jump into games with other legacy players and report who won. Every time you play a match(best 2 out of 3), whether you win or lose, you get points(# to be determined) and you get your name entered into a drawing, winners of each match might get their name entered twice so that there's still some benefit for winning. At the end of the night(or whatever determined time), we'll announce those with the most points and issue prizes accordingly, and do our drawings for the random prizes.

       I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it would allow everyone who wants to play legacy to come in with any deck, and still get points whether they win or lose, but still slightly favor those who come prepared. Also, if you come and play more games than others, you will be favored slightly whether you've been winning or not, just on the sheer amount of games you played.

       I would really like to hear everyone's opinions on this idea and get your help to make it perfect for everyone! Let's get Legacy back in full swing in the valley and foster a great environment for magic players everywhere!

Hosting a Team Gauntlet session for Qualifier and Grand Prix events

­­“The Grind” – Preparation

Hello everyone! DannyO here from team Rogue T3ch and representing WizardDen.com. My team and I are starting to plan for some PTQ’s and GP’s and I’m very excited to step our game and see if we can put ourselves on the map this year. In preparation for these upcoming major events, our team is going to be participating in what I’ve dubbed “The Grind”. All big name teams do this and we should be no exception if we want to compete on their level.

“The Grind” – Noun – A set time where a team gathers to playtest known archetypes against new brews in an attempt to find the next best tech against the meta. This can also be referred to as a Gauntlet.

A lot of bigger teams (with significant funding) usually meet up at someone’s house for an entire week of playtesting or even more! For now, we are just going to focus our efforts into a single day. Since we are dedicated to becoming the best players we can be, as well as helping others do the same, I would like to share with you some of our methods for hosting a “Grind” session.

Untap.

The biggest, and most important part, is… you should probably be a part of a team. For me, I was fortunate enough to meet fellow team-mate Ariel Adamson in a Saturday morning communications class at Boise State a couple years back. He introduced me to his normal playtest partner, Dennis Hersom, and shortly after, the three of us became Team Rogue T3ch. We’ve since grown in both size and skill. No one wins a Pro Tour on their own. Ask any of the pros. If you want to become more competitive I highly recommend getting organized with your friends and forming a team or talking to existing teams about what it would take to join their ranks.

Upkeep.

The next part of organizing a grind session for you and your team basically just comes down to scheduling around each other’s schedules. Find a time that works best for everyone and follow through. See if you or any of your team-mates have a house or apartment large enough to host 6-8 players with ample table space. If not, utilize your local game store. Find out when they usually have a lot of open table space and use that time. Rogue T3ch is very fortunate to be sponsored by WizardDen.com that will soon be opening its doors here in Boise, Idaho. This will grant us the kind of space needed for a grind any day of the week.

Draw - Main Phase!

Before jumping into the playtesting, there are a lot of things that need to happen first in order for you to be successful. First of all, you need to research the meta as a team. Since we are planning for standard formats, we are focusing on the current standard meta which consists of the well-known Mono Black Devotion, Mono Blue Devotion, U/W Control and a handful of other Tier-2 or Tier-1.5 decks. You can use our blog to keep up with the latest Standard Tournament Top 8 Deck Lists. Check back every week for updates as more events take place including the results from Pro Tour Born of the Gods taking place this weekend! There are resources out there that can show you how many of each archetype exists so you can get a good idea of what to expect. This doesn’t mean that you should just know that there are a lot of Mono Black players. It means you need to know exactly what cards are trending now in those lists, and more importantly, how they are building their sideboards.

Once you and your team feel you have sufficient knowledge on the meta, start by constructing the top 3-4 decks, using proxies if you have to. Then, with the information you’ve found, talk to each other about some decks that might be positioned well against these top decks. Then, build those, again with proxies if you need to.

Combat Phase!

So now you have the Tier-1 decks built, some new ideas to test against them and a venue to host this grind party. The next part is simple – PLAY!

Give each tier 1 deck to a player on your team who you feel can pilot that deck the best. Those players will play against the other half of the team who will pilot your “Challenger Decks” (the decks you want to test against these existing archetypes). Play some games. By ‘some’ I don’t mean 3 games and move on. I mean a minimum of 5-10 games with sideboard coming in somewhere in the middle. After that round is over, talk to your opponent about the match. What was good? What was bad? What changes would you make? Write down your findings, make those changes and do it again. You got all night.

If you have access to a giant white board (the biggest you can feasibly handle in your venue), get it up there and have everyone write down their basic results after each round. Keep it organized! The plan is to not have all 6-8 of you talking in a mass chat in between every game, but rather to keep everybody focused on their games and results. After a couple of rounds with your opponent and some tweaks to your decks, have the tier-1 players rotate so every challenger deck is playing a new tier-1 deck. Repeat all the previous steps again, and again for every tier deck you want to test against.

It sounds daunting I know, but you can’t prepare for a 15 round event with 15 games of testing. Like any sport, your practice should be much harder and longer than any event.  I know how some of you feel just thinking about an event of this caliber. I am not a casual player, I only play competitively and don’t have much patience for side games. “The Grind” scares even me. It’s going to be a lot of work, patience and focus, but it’ll all be worth it at the end of the night and we will all be better players for it. The ultimate goal for us is to represent Team Rogue T3ch and Wizard Den at the next GP and get some “Street Cred”! Whatever your goals are, keep them in sight as you dig into “The Grind”.

Cleanup Step

As your night wraps up, get everyone gathered around the white board or whatever you got and have each person walk everyone through the general statistics of their matches. Maybe focus on Mono Black Devotion and have each person talk about their match-up with that deck. Then, move on to the next archetype and so on. There’s really no wrong way to do this part. As long as you all communicate efficiently, and in an organized fashion, you’ll make it work. If you’re lucky enough to have some sort of decent filming hardware and can film your matches, take time to review them with everyone and talk about any play mistakes or key plays that are important in those matches.

With “The Grind” coming up soon, I look forward to writing about our experiences and sharing them with you when it’s all said and done. In the meantime, start researching the meta! Born of the Gods hasn’t shaken up the format too much yet, but some decks are looking a bit interesting and I believe there are a couple of new archetypes out there that could be real contenders!

From all of us at WizardDen.com and team Rogue T3ch, thanks for reading! See you at FNM!

DannyO

Standard Tournament Top 8 Deck Lists

Here's the latest top 8 lists from standard tournaments since Born of the Gods has been legal in standard.

February 8th
Star City Games Open: Nashville Top 8

1st Place: Mono Blue Devotion by Eric Gray

Land: 25
20 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Creatures: 28
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Master of Waves
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Tidebinder Mage

Spells: 7
2 Bident of Thassa
2 Domestication
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Rapid Hybridization

Sideboard:
1 Aetherling
1 Bident of Thassa
2 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dispel
1 Dissolve
2 Domestication
3 Gainsay
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Negate
1 Rapid Hybridization

2nd Place: R/G Monsters by Kent Ketter

Lands: 24
7 Forest
6 Mountain
2 Mutavault
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Malice

Creatures: 25
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Xenagos, God of Revels

Spells: 11
1 Chandra Pyromaster
4 Domri Rade
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
4 Mizzium Mortars

Sideboard:
2 Arbor Colossus
2 Bow of Nylea
1 Flesh//Blood
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Plummet
2 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
2 Unravel the Aether

3rd Place: B/W Control by Dylan Harris

Lands: 25
4 Godless Shrine
4 Mutavault
3 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence

Creatures: 14
4 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
4 Desecration Demon
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Pack Rat

Spells: 21
3 Bile Blight
3 Devour Flesh
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
1 Ultimate Price
3 Underworld Connections
1 Whip of Erebos

Sideboard:
2 Dark Betrayal
4 Doom Blade
4 Duress
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Lifebane Zombie
1 Merciless Eviction

4th Place: U/W/R Control by Chris Yarbrough

Lands: 26
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Enlightenmnet
4 Temple of Triumph

Creatures: 1
Aetherling

Spells: 33
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Azorius Charm
1 Counterflux
4 Detention Sphere
3 Dissolve
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Fated Retribution
2 Izzet Charm
3 Jace, Architect of Thought
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Revoke Existence
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Syncopate

Sideboard:
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Counterflux
1 Gainsay
1 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Renounce the Guilds
2 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Wear//Tear

5th Place: Mono Black Devotion by Cody Howard

Lands: 26
18 Swamp
4 Mutavault
4 Temple of Silence

Creatures: 15
4 Desecration Demon
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Nightveil Specter
2 Pack Rat

Spells:19
4 Bile blight
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
2 Ultimate Price
4 Underworld Connections
1 Whip of Erebos

Sideboard:
2 Doom Blade
3 Drown in Sorrow
4 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Lifebane Zombie
1 Pack Rat

6th Place: B/W Control by Jessie Butler

Lands: 26
4 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Mutavault
2 Orzhov Guildgate
10 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence

Creatures: 14
4 Alms Beast
4 Blood Baron
3 Nightveil Specter
3 Pack Rat

Spells: 20
2 Bile Blight
2 Devour Flesh
4 Hero's Downfall
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Thoughtseize
2 Ultimate Price
3 Underworld Connections

Sideboard:
1 Bile Blight
3 Dark Betrayal
1 Doom Blade
3 Duress
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Revoke Existence
1 Ultimate Price

7th Place: Mono Blue Devotion by Michael Majors

Lands: 25
20 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Creatures: 28
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Master of Waves
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Tidebinder Mage

Spells: 7
2 Bident of Thassa
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Domestication
2 Rapid Hybridization

Sideboard:
1 Bident of Thassa
2 Claustrophobia
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dispel
1 Domestication
3 Gainsay
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Negate
1 Rapid Hybridization


8th Place: G/W Aggro by Kaleb Byrd

Lands: 23
8 Forest
8 Plains
4 Temple Garden
3 Temple of Plenty

Creatures: 24
1 Banisher Priest
4 Boon Satyr
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Experiment One
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
1 Loxodon Smiter
4 Voice of Resurgence

Spells: 13
4 Advent of the Wurm
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
3 Gods Willing
4 Selesnya Charm

Sideboard:
1 Banisher Priest
1 Druid's Deliverance
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Revoke Existence
3 Rootborn Defenses
1 Skylasher
3 Unflinching Courage

Fighting the control match-up with Wizard Den!

BEATING CONTROL

                For many people, fighting the control match-up can be a dauntless endeavor. It can seem like a constant up-hill battle that just gets more and more frustrating with each passing turn. They counter everything you play, wrath away your board, ‘Time Walk’ you with Azorius Charms, and Rev for 7.

Scoop.

It’s my most hated match-up no matter what I’m piloting, so I’m doing my best to understand it and beat it. I get frustrated very quickly against control and usually end up just conceding the games in the first 6 or 7 turns if it doesn't go my way.

Wrong answer.

It may seem like it’s all over when they Rev for 7, but in actuality, there are a lot of things you can do throughout the game to keep the control player sweating and constantly struggling to answer your threats. One of the best bits of advice I’ve been hearing from my team lately is; “You have more threats than they have D-Spheres”. That’s a good point. If they have already used two Detention Spheres, you can safely assume that your chances are good they don’t have a third.

Jam that Garruk!

Now, that’s not the only thing to think about. Of course they have counterspells, but our current standard U/W control players usually only run the 4 Dissolve, so it’s ok to jam your spells when you need to. They don’t always have a counterspell. Still, you want to play around them and make sure you’re playing the correct cards at the correct time. The most important thing you should be asking yourself at every single turn in the game is; “What answers are they using on my threats?” and, “What does that tell me they have or don’t have?”

Let’s say for example you play a Polukranos, World Eater into your 2 Burning-Tree Emissaries and a Sylvan Caryatid. This first piece of information you can derive from the fact that it resolved is that they probably have a Supreme Verdict. Even if they have a counterspell, they'll get much better advantage out of casting Supreme Verdict. So you pass turn, They untap, draw and cast Detention Sphere on your poor Pokie. They used a Detention Sphere on your big threat where they would obviously gain much better advantage by playing a Supreme Verdict. This tells you another big piece of information about their hand. They don’t have Supreme Verdict either. Now, you can’t just start jamming all of your threats because they could still draw into their wrath, and they likely will with the help of Sphinx’s Revelations and Jace, Architect of Thought, but it lets you know that they will be frantically trying to keep up with your threats until they see a wrath, if at all.

Focus…

Play conservatively and stay focused on their threats. Don’t worry about their Detention Spheres, their Revs and their Supreme Verdicts. Think about what information they’ve given you so far and play the most efficient threat for the moment. Bait out Azorius Charms, force them to tap out on their turns to answer your threats(D-Sphere, Jace, Verdict). They run a lot of sorcery speed removal and you can take advantage of that. Another big bit of information about control decks is;

They only have so many win-conditions!

Usually a single Aetherling, 2-3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, and in rough circumstances, Jace, Architect of Thought can be a win condition. If you have efficient ways to answer their win-conditions, do just that. If they can’t win the game, then they can draw cards and verdict to their hearts content. It’s only a matter of time! If you don’t have the best answers for their threats, then you need to just keep applying pressure in the best way possible and don’t give up just because it looks bad. Granted, if they jam an Elspeth into your empty board, you might not have a great time.

So, in conclusion, the most important things to think about during a control match-up is; Ask yourself what answers they’re using for your threats and what that means, Don’t over commit to your board presence(play around wrath), be patient and never give up!

The control player is playing a mental side-game outside of the physical card game. They want you to go full tilt, they want you to get frustrated and just scoop. Play that mental game right back! Don't show signs of doubt. Stay positive and confident. Pay attention to their facial expressions when they draw cards and when they react to your actions. Use any information you can to stay ahead of them and keep them struggling to keep up.

Hopefully this will get you guys(and me!) thinking a little outside the box when it comes to control match-ups and start turning those dreaded matches into favorable ones.

Until next time,

DannyO

Born of the Gods Pre-release weekend re-cap, an interesting phenomenon, and a new deck!

Born of the Gods Pre-release weekend re-cap, an interesting phenomenon, and a new deck!

                Pre-release weekend is over, and I must say, the format was pretty fun. I got to play 3 sealed events and a 2HG with my team-mate Ariel Adamson. Players everywhere finally got to play with the cards and get a feel with how powerful they might be in constructed formats. Cards like; Xenagos, God of Revels,  Mogis, God of Slaughter, Courser of Kruphix, Hero of Iroas and many others. I had the opportunity to play with some of these, and while great in the limited format, it’s still hard to tell whether or not they’ll pan out in standard constructed. There’s been a lot of discussion over the playability of these cards already, but it takes effort and time into play-testing to really see if these cards will work.

                But I digress! I want to talk about the weekend events and which cards actually did work in the format. When it comes to Born of the Gods, there really aren’t many great bombs at the rare quality. However, there are some that come to mind as exceptionally good. I had the opportunity to play with two Gods from the set and both were great! I ended up with a white/blue Heroic deck with Hero of Iroas in one of my flights. The pool came with 2 Hopeful Eidolons and 2 Nyxborn Tritons among others that got me a 4-1 record, losing only to my team-mate Ariel in the 4^th round. Hero of Iroas is a limited bomb that gets out of control fast. It’s scary to commit so much to one creature with the chance your opponent could have a simple removal spell for it and get some good 2-for-1’s or even more out of you, but with the bestow creatures falling off and staying in play, you really weren't losing much.

                In the same event, I ended up pulling Phenax, God of Deception. Because I also pulled a Temple of Deceit, I decided to throw him in my white/blue deck. He won me 4 games that night, because like I said in my last article, he is pretty much the end all for this format. I wish I could have committed to Blue/Black more to be more consistent with him, but it worked out fine when I saw him. On top of that, I also saw the Archetype of Imagination. This guy was as good as I expected him to be. There are lots of removal spells that answer him efficiently, but he was still awesome and it made for awesome finishers.

                I’ve decided that black is the worst color for the format so I stayed away from it as much as possible so I didn’t get the chance to play with Drown in Sorrow or Bile Blight, in fact, I never even saw a single Bile Blight in any of my events. However, I did get to play with Mogis, God of Slaughter as a splash for a white/red deck I piloted in a 2HG event on Sunday. He came with a pair of Read the Bones that made the black splash more worth it, and it was! I only got to play him once, but we were able to put our opponents’ health so low, that they had no choice but to start sacrificing their creatures on their turns. It was a very solid ‘nail in their coffin’ as it were. However, I realized that if we didn’t already have good control over the board, he wouldn’t be very effective at all. They could just take a few points of damage and keep swinging for the win. This makes me feel that he won’t be very great in standard since he feels so much like a ‘win-more’ kind of card, but still very fun nonetheless.

               

The limited hype phenomenon!

Over the years, I’ve noticed a… thing… occurring at limited events. I’ve actually been guilty of it myself and you might have too! Here’s the deal. You go to your local game store for a fun night of draft with some buddies. You end up pulling some decent limited bomb and happen to pull it out every single game and go undefeated. In all the glory and praise, you give credit to your bomb. Then you start thinking… “This was so good and so much fun, I should build this for constructed!” You build it, show up to FNM, and get destroyed. Then you immediately bail on the idea and start building a real deck. Hey, it happens. The most annoying part of all of this is, Xenagos, God of Revels is that card right now. I'm not saying this card won't shake up standard, because I believe it will, but people are generally hyping him a little too much from what they saw in a limited environment. I saw a ton of people open him in their sealed pools and no one would trade them to me afterwards. Pretty much everyone I asked to trade said the same thing; “No way, I think I’m gunna build Red/Green!” The dumb part was I obviously wanted to build Red/Green myself, but I had already planned on the deck list from watching the spoilers and teching against the current meta and their new additions. Apparently, we’ll be seeing a lot of R/G Monsters at FNM this week…

Enough complaining on my part! Among all of the hype, we managed to pick up 4 Xenagos, God of Revels, enough for myself and fellow team-mate Donovan Blayney to run two in our near-identical G/r Devotion deck. It actually turned out to be more difficult to get Courser of Kruphix so I ended up pre-ordering some for pick up at my local game store, usually something I try to avoid, but oh well!

The New Deck!!!

While spoiler season was going, I was watching with a diligent eye. My team and I were busy hashing out ideas and testing the exciting new cards. Since two of us were hyped on G/r Devotion, we decided to squeeze in the new God, so without further ado, here’s the awesome deck Donovan and I designed for FNM this week:

G/r Devotion;

Lands: 24

11 Forest

2 Mountain

3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

4 Stomping Ground

4 Temple of Abandon

Creatures: 29

4 Arbor Colossus

4 Burning-Tree Emissary

2 Courser of Kruphix

3 Kalonian Hydra

3 Polukranos, World Eater

2 Skarrg Guildmage

4 Sylvan Caryatid

2 Sylvan Primordial

3 Voyaging Satyr

2 Xenagos, God of Revels

Planeswalkers: 7
            3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
            4 Xenagos, the Reveler

Sideboard:

2 Courser of Kruphix

4 Domri Rade

4 Mistcutter Hydra

1 Polukranos, World Eater

4 Skylasher

This deck is mostly the normal Green devotion deck you’re used to seeing around with the splash of red for Xenagos. This list might not be “Tier-1”, but it’s explosive and way more fun to play than Mono Black has been, for me anyway. We still have to see how it plays out at FNM this Friday, but I have high hopes. The Xenagod will make for some(probably expected) blowout plays. Having access to tramplers in the form of Kalonian Hydra, an already ‘Must-deal-with’ threat, makes Xenagos’ pumps very scary. There are only 3 copies of the counter-happy hydra so I decided to add in Skarrg Guildmage. His ability to give everything trample could be as game-ending as Xenagod himself, but paired together, are really a force. At two mana to cast, he’s easy to throw in a few copies, however, I don’t really want to see him in the first 4-5 turns and he gets better the longer the game goes, so 2 copies is where I settled. His other ability of turning lands into 4/4’s(8/8 hasters with Xenagod), is another powerful synergistic ability in this deck, allowing for better game 1’s against control decks. I expect great things from him!

The only other thing I should mention is the sideboard. I’m hesitant on the 4 Skylashers, and they’ll probably turn into Gruul Charms or… something. Donovan says they are really good against mono red where they can trade with a lot of their 2/2’s and keep their devotion count low as well as being great in the Mono Blue match-up and U/W control as well. Since this archetype is Donovan’s field of expertise, I tend to listen to him, but I still like to build towards my own play-style, so we’ll see how I feel after FNM.

Well, that’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed the read and had a great pre-release weekend, even if the super bowl was disappointing(for fans of both teams). Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates and content! 

DannyO