ROGUE PLAY Back to the Core

by Nafiz Erman

Hello everybody and welcome to Rogue Play. It has been weeks now since Core Set Constructed became a part of our MTGO activities and I do hope that you at least once tried it. I am seeing an increasing number of Core Set games both in the Casual Room and in the Tournament Practice Room, but sadly that number is still not enough.

So I decided to visit this fine format once again and hopefully after reading this article, you also will try it.

Okay, let's start then!

Five reasons why you should try the format

There are actually many reasons why you should try Core Set Constructed, but the most important five are these:

1) It's cheap

The prices of cards are VERY relevant with what people play. When Kaleidoscope was new and hot and when I was writing about the format, many players commented and said that they would love to try the format but the cost of Pillar of the Paruns, Reflecting Pool as well as all those Ravnica shocklands were preventing them from doing so.

So yes, money is a factor and prices matter.

Two weeks ago when I first talked about the format here, I explained you in great detail the costs of entering this format. But because of the reason I mentioned above, I think that another short version of that explanation won't hurt.

Set aside Pauper and do tell me this: Which is the most budget friendly format? Standard? ZEN Block? ALA Block? Extended maybe? No. It's none of them. The cheapest constructed format (after Pauper) is Core Set Constructed. Do you actually know how much that killer Magnivore costs? $0,20 only! Do you want to try that Opposition deck you keep hearing about? Sure why not; Opposition itself costs $1,75. Painlands? Adarkar Wastes costs $1,00 if you like Control, and Karplusan Forest costs $0,90 if you like Aggro.

Pithing Needle? $0,80. Sacred Ground against LD? $0,10. How about some Black goodies such as Persecute and Phyrexian Arena? Arena costs $1,00 and Persecute costs $0,35.

And the mighty Wrath of God? It only costs $4,00 these days!

Look at the power level here and look at their prices!

I think that you got the message. But what about Baneslayer Angel you say?

Read on I say.

2) Baneslayer Angel isn't a must

Yes I know, she's hot these days (hot as in $50,00 per one copy!).

But don't worry! Even though she is known to win games on her own, she is not for example what Pillar of the Paruns was for Kaleidoscope. In other words, she is good without doubt but not a must. Competitive Kaleidoscope was hard to play if you didn't own Pillar of the Paruns but Core Set Constructed is not hard at all to play without Baneslayer Angel. Below I have many decks from the first two weekend events and you will see that fact for yourself.

3) The card pool is large

Yes, there are 7ED Grizzly Bears, 8ED Grizzly Bears, 9ED Grizzly Bears, 10th ED Grizzly Bears and M10 Grizzly Runeclaw Bear. I mean, there are a lot of cards that are reprinted in all the core sets. But still, if you go through the core sets from 7th Edition to M10, you will see for yourself that there are a lot of possibilities and options for deck building.

And don't forget that currently there are five LARGE sets legal for the format.

4) We have everything for everyone

Another good news about Core Set Constructed is that the format has enough cards to support each strategy.

Aggro?	Control?	Combo?	Alternate Win Conditions?

There really isn't much to say about this. Whatever you are looking for, you will definitely find that in Core Set Constructed.

You can play Mono White Aggro, Zoo, Aggro with Kird Ape if you like aggressive decks. You can always try  Control decks (and they're good by the way!). If you like Combo, we already have the famous Opposition + Static Orb and the also famous Ensnaring Bridge + Grafted Skullcap combos. And finally, cards like Battle of Wits and Mortal Combat are there to achieve alternate wins and you can always build a successful Mill deck in the format.

5) The format is fun!

I think this is the most important part about the format. Only after trying Core Set Constructed, you will see how entertaining those core set reprints really are. There is nothing I can do to make you understand the "fun scale" of the format; only you can measure it by trying it.

But I can tell you this much: I have had many epic games so far. I have had many games in which I and my opponent fought to the last card. I have had many games in which the winner was decided at the very last minute. And I have had many games in which my opponent said to me "wow cool deck!" and vice versa.

If those five reasons are not enough to make you try the format, I fear that there is nothing more I can do to change your mind. If you don't like an affordable fun format with a large card base that supports all the strategies, then you really shouldn't try Core Set Constructed (but if that's the case then I'm not sure which format would be the best for you; freeform maybe? Or Momir perhaps?).

Okay we did enough talking. And now it's time for some action.

DECKS DECKS DECKS

If you are still here with me and reading this, it means that you are interested to see what this format offers. It actually offers many different types of decks but I will start with these two identical decks:

Traditional White/Blue Control v.1

As Played By Gosu.

Creatures 2 Arcanis the Omnipotent 2 Baneslayer Angel 4 cards Other Spells 4 Counterspell 4 Force Spike 4 Rewind 4 Mana Leak 4 Wrath of God 3 Condemn 3 Jace Beleren 2 Telling Time 2 Opportunity 30 cards

Lands 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Faerie Conclave 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Gargoyle Castle 2 Coastal Tower 6 Island 3 Plains 26 cards Sideboard 4 Karma 4 Flashfreeze 3 Disenchant 2 Mind Control 2 Persuasion 15 cards

And the second one: 

Traditional White/Blue Control v.2

As Played By cpage01

Creatures 4 Baneslayer Angel 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent 5 cards Other Spells 4 Counterspell 4 Mana Leak 4 Negate 4 Jace Beleren 3 Condemn 3 Wrath of God 2 Concentrate 2 Pithing Needle 2 Opportunity 1 Disenchant 29 cards

Lands 4 Adarkar Wastes 4 Faerie Conclave 3 Glacial Fortress 2 Coastal Tower 8 Island 5 Plains 26 cards Sideboard 4 Karma 3 Disenchant 3 Flashfreeze 2 Paladin En-Vec 1 Pithing Needle 1 Wrath of God 1 Condemn 15 cards

The first version is the winner of first week and the second version is the winner of second week. See the pattern? 

The strategy here is to counter everything, remove everything, draw cards like crazy, then continue countering everything and then win with Baneslayer Angel (or sometimes with the manlands). Baneslayer Angel gains you all the life you lose early to Aggro and she's just a mean four turn clock for the opponent.

There isn't much to say about those two decks but maybe I should say that I liked the first one more. Surely the second version's main deck Pithing Needles and single Disenchant are giving the pilot more control over some disturbing permanents on table, but the first version has Force Spike instead of those. Any Control deck has difficulties dealing with spells played during the early turns of the game and Force Spike is therefore a Blue mage's best friend.

And finally please note that both versions play four Karma in their sideboard.

Do you wonder why? Actually the reason is simple. There are only three types of decks that can beat the traditional  Control. One is pure Aggro, the second is Burn and the third one is something like this:

Mono Black Control

As Played By intherain

Creatures 3 Crypt Rats 3 cards Other Spells 4 Distress 4 Mind Stone 4 Phyrexian Arena 4 Sign in Blood 3 Corrupt 3 Liliana Vess 3 Tendrils of Corruption 2 Duress 2 Mind Sludge 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Cruel Edict 1 Disenchant 1 Haunting Echoes 1 Pithing Needle 34 cards

Lands 4 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Gargoyle Castle 1 Plains 17 Swamp 23 cards Sideboard 4 Doom Blade 3 Disenchant 2 Duress 2 Pithing Needle 2 Cruel Edict 1 Tendrils of Corruption 1 Crucible of Worlds 15 cards

I'm simply in love with this deck. It has the power to deal with every type of deck. Cards like Duress and Distress mess with Control players' hands, Sign in Blood and Phyrexian Arena ensures that you will always have a loaded hand, Crypt Rats does the same thing it does in Pauper and blows up creatures from all sizes, and finally Corrupt and Tendrils of Corruption makes sure that you stay alive while all those other things are happening.

But that's not all. As we all know, Mono Black has no way of dealing with artifacts and enchantments. Therefore a single copy of Karma will simply mean "gg" for the pilot... or so you think. Because this deck above plays Disenchant!

With a single Plains in deck and four Terramorphic Expanses (also Crucible of Worlds to re-use Terramorphic Expanse), this deck CAN play Disenchant and it never loses to Karma or Opposition or Pithing Needle or whatever! Come on and be honest: You weren't expecting this from a Mono Black deck, were you now?

Even though I liked the deck a lot, I still think there are a few mistakes here and there. Or let's say it this way: I'm sure the pilot knows what he's doing but my personal taste is a little bit different and I simply don't understand a few choices here and there and my personal Mono Black Control deck, which is 100% inspired by the above one let me add, is actually looking like this:

Mono Black Control

A Core Set Deck by Nafiz Erman

Creatures 3 Crypt Rats 3 cards Other Spells 4 Duress 4 Sign in Blood 4 Mind Stone 3 Corrupt 3 Liliana Vess 3 Persecute 3 Phyrexian Arena 3 Tendrils of Corruption 2 Doom Blade 2 Distress 1 Disenchant 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Pithing Needle 34 cards

Lands 4 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Gargoyle Castle 17 Swamp 1 Plains 23 cards Sideboard 3 Pithing Needle 3 Disenchant 2 Distress 2 Doom Blade 1 Haunting Echoes 1 Crypt Rats 1 Corrupt 1 Crucible of Worlds 1 Tendrils of Corruption 15 cards

I only did a few minor changes here and there but I think the deck works now better. I have four Duress and two Distress in the main deck. I think that Duress is much more important in the format. It is very valuable against Control, against Burn, against Vore decks and against Opposition decks. The only type of deck it doesn't do much is Mono White Aggro and that's the reason I put two Distress in the sideboard.

I also added Persecute to the main deck. It's such a killer card and I really can't see a reason why not to play it. And finally I must say that I did a fair amount of playtesting with this deck and I'm very satisfied with the results.

Okay, that's all there is to know about Mono Black Control.

Above I said that if one wants to beat Control, he can play three different decks. One was Mono Black Control with discard. And the second option is actually to burn down everything on table which also includes the opposing planeswalker (and that happens to be your opponent!). Here is such deck that can do that:

Mono Red Burning Bridges

As Played By CharToYourFace

Creatures 0 cards Other Spells 4 Earthquake 4 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Grafted Skullcap 4 Hammer of Bogardan 4 Incinerate 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Shock 4 Volcanic Hammer 3 Seismic Assault 1 Pyroclasm 36 cards

Lands 4 Gargoyle Castle 4 Ghitu Encampment 16 Mountain 24 cards Sideboard 4 Boil 4 Guerrilla Tactics 4 Pithing Needle 3 Pyroclasm 15 cards

Mono Red Burn decks were always one of the first options for those who like to win quickly. But they all consume their cards with an incredible speed and enter the top-deck mode after only a few turns. No other strategy, not even Aggro, can beat their speed in bringing the opponent's life total below ten or even below five. But what happens next? You top-deck two Mountains in a row and you're toast!

Well, not with this deck.

First of all this deck has one of my favorite combos in the format; the Ensnaring Bridge + Grafted Skullcap combo.

This combo ensures two things: One is that the opponent will not be able to attack you. So you have no reason to fear that Baneslayer Angel. And secondly, this combo ensures that you get two ammo for your flamethrower(!) every turn.

And there is one other card that needs to be mentioned and that is this one:

No pesky Blue mage will be happy to see this card in your graveyard. Because this turn it deals three damage, the next turn it will AGAIN deal three damage, the next turn it will AGAIN deal three damage, the next turn it will AGAIN... you get the idea. And how many times do you think he can counter it? Four? Five? Cool, you have all the time in the world thanks to your combo (assuming it's on table of course).

And finally this deck also has Seismic Assault as an alternate way of dealing damage. Late game this fine enchantment turns those blank draws into solid burn spells!

And that is all there is to know about Burn in Core Set Constructed. Let's move onto the final way of dealing with Control.

Mono White Aggro

As Played By Beckman

Creatures 4 Elite Vanguard 4 Leonin Skyhunter 4 Savannah Lions 4 Stormfront Pegasus 3 Longbow Archer 3 Paladin En-Vec 3 White Knight 25 cards Other Spells 4 Honor of the Pure 4 Glorious Anthem 3 Ajani Goldmane 2 Loxodon Warhammer 13 cards

Lands 22 Plains 22 cards Sideboard 4 Harm's Way 3 Soul Warden 3 Wrath of God 3 Circle of Protection: Red 2 Worship 15 cards

What we have here is a deck that is very aggressive. In fact it doesn't even play one copy of a removal, it is that aggressive. Definitely not my style but who knows; maybe this is exactly what you were looking for!

Next I have one of my favorite decks in this article:

White Aggro with some Blue Protection

As Played By chobo13

Creatures 4 Savannah Lions 4 Elite Vanguard 4 Leonin Skyhunter 4 Suntail Hawk 4 Veteran Armorsmith 4 White Knight 1 Veteran Swordsmith 25 cards Other Spells 4 Glorious Anthem 4 Honor of the Pure 3 Pacifism 2 Force Spike 2 Mana Leak 15 cards

Lands 4 Adarkar Wastes 2 City of Brass 2 Glacial Fortress 12 Plains 20 cards Sideboard 4 Disenchant 4 Paladin En-Vec 3 Harm's Way 1 Aura of Silence 1 Pacifism 1 Silence 1 Pithing Needle 15 cards

What we have here is a very good idea but also an idea that still needs to be worked on. I was always a huge fan of Aggro decks that also pack some counterspells (as in  midrange decks) and this deck therefore caught my attention immediately.

Even though it looks and plays like any other usual Mono White Aggro deck, you understand that it is not such a deck just when the pilot counters your attempt to cast your Wrath of God with his Force Spike. Come on, admit it: You never saw that comin'!

But as I said, even though this is a very solid idea, the deck above needs still to be worked on; especially the sideboard. What good will do that lone Pithing Needle against, say, a deck with more than one planeswalker? How will Harm's Way save you from Baneslayer Angel? How will you deal with the manlands? And I also have difficulties understanding that lone Aura of Silence in the sideboard considering the pilot is playing eight very important enchantments in his main deck.

But still, the idea is very solid and I will personally work on a such deck myself.

Of course Aggro does not always mean small creatures and early pressure. Some Aggro decks, such as Mana Ramp decks, like to play big fat creatures rather than tiny ones to kill the opponent. Such as this one:

Mana Ramp

As Played By el_fake

Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Troll Ascetic 3 Civic Wayfinder 3 Siege-Gang Commander 2 Bogardan Hellkite 2 Master of the Wild Hunt 2 Llanowar Elves 20 cards Other Spells 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Plow Under 4 Rampant Growth 3 Garruk Wildspeaker 2 Fireball 1 Loxodon Warhammer 18 cards

Lands 4 Karplusan Forest 4 Rootbound Crag 2 Gargoyle Castle 9 Forest 3 Mountain 22 cards Sideboard 4 Boil 4 Compost 3 Pyroclasm 2 Earthquake 2 Naturalize 15 cards

Last week in my article about Standard 60 card Singleton, I talked in great detail about Mana Ramp decks. Basically this strategy plays a lot of early mana acceleration cards such as Birds of Paradise and Rampant Growth and then uses that mana to play some real big and devastating threats; in our case those are Bogardan Hellkite, Siege-Gang Commander and Plow Under.

Playing a third turn Plow Under is not a dream with this deck. And when that happens, the game simply ends.

Okay, you saw Control and you saw Aggro but you might ask "where are those Magnivore and Opposition Lock decks you talked about in your first article?". Well, Vore seems to be more popular than Opposition decks these days. In two events (meaning among sixteen decks), there were four Magnivore decks and two Opposition decks. Not bad if you'd ask me!

Here's a Vore deck:

Vore

As Played By Player005

Creatures 2 Magnivore 2 cards Other Spells 4 Annex 4 Concentrate 4 Counterspell 4 Ponder 4 Stone Rain 3 Wildfire 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Earthquake 2 Sleight of Hand 1 Boomerang 1 Confiscate 1 Hammer of Bogardan 1 Tidings 34 cards

Lands 4 Shivan Reef 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Faerie Conclave 9 Mountain 7 Island 24 cards Sideboard 3 Delusions of Mediocrity 3 Mana Leak 3 Pyroclasm 2 Obliterate 2 Cryoclasm 1 Lightning Bolt 1 Wildfire 15 cards

And here's the Opposition deck:

Opposition Lock

As Played By ceobry01

Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Merfolk Looter 3 Ant Queen 3 Great Sable Stag 3 Troll Ascetic 1 Acidic Slime 1 Master of the Wild Hunt 23 cards Other Spells 4 Mana Leak 4 Opposition 3 Static Orb 3 Garruk Wildspeaker 14 cards

Lands 4 Yavimaya Coast 4 Treetop Village 8 Forest 7 Island 23 cards Sideboard 4 Negate 3 Acidic Slime 2 Loxodon Warhammer 2 Naturalize 2 Seedborn Muse 1 Great Sable Stag 1 Troll Ascetic 15 cards

I talked in great detail about these two decks in my previous article about the format, so now I'm skipping them. But know that they are there. Especially Vore.  

And next I have my favorite deck.

Planeswalkers

A Core Set Deck by Nafiz Erman

Creatures 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Llanowar Elves 3 Baneslayer Angel 11 cards Other Spells 4 Garruk Wildspeaker 4 Wrath of God 4 Sign in Blood 3 Doom Blade 3 Ajani Goldmane 3 Persecute 2 Condemn 2 Liliana Vess 25 cards

Lands 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Treetop Village 3 Caves of Koilos 3 Llanowar Wastes 4 Plains 4 Swamp 2 Forest 24 cards Sideboard 4 Pithing Needle 4 Sacred Ground 4 Defense Grid 3 Disenchant 15 cards

This is my own deck and with this one I'm doing fairly well in 2mans and in practice games. I'm not winning all my games but still my win percentage is very satisfactory.

Against Control I play patiently and definitely manage to get one planeswalker or one Persecute through. And if you examine the first two Control decks, you will see that they both don't have a way to bounce back permanents. And that's what I'm counting on actually. If Liliana Vess or Garruk Wildspeaker manage to get through their thick wall of counterspells on time, it will mean that he or she will stay there until the end of the game. Which of course works to my advantage.
 

After sideboarding I bring in Defense Grid which hurts them like no other card does, and either Pithing Needle or Disenchant (and sometimes even both). Most of the time I trick them to counter a planeswalker or a Persecute and then play my Defense Grid. Besides, I always have my four Treetop Villages and they also help a lot against Control.

Control games overall are not easy match-ups but I played so many games against that strategy, so I can easily say that I'm very experienced in playing against them. Burn hurts but it is also not something that I cannot handle. In this game three cards are my saviours; Persecute, Baneslayer Angel and Ajani Goldmane. Aggro I handle easily; especially Mono White. Wrath of God hurts them but not as much as a turn three Persecute leaving them with nothing in hand! I'm not saying that Aggro is an auto-win for me but it's definitely not an auto-loss.

And now I have some numbers for you. Do you want to know the most heavily played cards in the format? Do you want to know which cards people add to their sideboards the most? Here are some answers:

And now some information about the sideboards:

Actually those numbers tell us many things. First of all, they tell us that Mana Leak is the most heavily played card by a wide margin. But to be honest, this fact is not surprising me; Mana Leak is a hardcounter just like Counterspell and even though it isn't as powerful as Counterspell, players of the format are totally aware of the difference between and . Secondly those charts tell us that Blue is the most powerful and heavily played color in the format. The Top-4 cards are all Blue and two of them are counterspells and the other two are card drawing spells. Thirdly as we can see, Baneslayer Angel is not the most heavily played card in the format; in fact she is not even in Top-5. So please forget all those "Urban Legends" about her; you can play this format without Baneslayer Angel. And finally the most important decks are  Control,  Vore and  Opposition-Lock decks. And this is not something I'm saying; the cards in the Top-20 tell us this fact. And also let's talk about a little bit about cards for the sideboards.

Pithing Needle and Disenchant are no surprises. Flashfreeze, Paladin En-Vec and Pyroclasm are also no surprise to me. But to be honest, Karma is.

It is absolutely true that that card alone kills Mono Black decks. But even though some people Top-8 with Mono Black decks, this strategy is not played that widely. So if you think you can handle Mono Black without Karma, if you think you have already the cards needed to defeat it, then you may consider other cards for your sideboard.

And finally one thing about the sideboards surprises me and that is the fact that neither Crucible of Worlds nor Sacred Ground are in Top-10. Apparently decks with counterspells rely on their, well, counterspells(!) to deal with them but what about other decks?

CARD OF THE WEEK:
Battle of Wits 

These days I am testing a Battle of Wits deck for the format. I'm not finished yet and I'm also not comfortable with the current list, so I will not give you the decklist now. But I can tell you this much; it works!

First of all, I'm using tons of card drawing in deck. Divination, Mind Spring, Jace Beleren, Counsel of the Soratami, Sign in Blood, Phyrexian Arena, Concentrate, Tidings and more are all in deck. Then I have tutors. Liliana Vess and Diabolic Tutor are the most obvious ones but I'm also using Ancestral Memories. Then I have many White cards in deck mainly for protection and I'm sure you can guess which ones. I also have almost all the counterspells in deck as well as some Black removal. Black also gives me some control over my opponent's hand and I use cards like Duress, Persecute and Mind Shatter in my main deck. And I use Baneslayer Angel as my main alternate win condition (but there are others too).

Finally I have almost all the mana artifacts in the format in deck. Back when Battle of Wits was Tier-1, it was playing all the Ravnica signets but in Core Set Constructed all we have is cards like Mind Stone, Fellwar Stone, Star Compass and the 7th Edition diamonds.

I like the deck even though it isn't finished yet but I receive mixed reactions from my opponents.

Is it really lame? I most definitely don't think so. I think Battle of Wits is a very fresh approach to the format and if built correctly, it can even be Tier-1.

WRAP UP

Okay dear readers, that was all I have to say about Core Set Constructed. Now it's up to you to decide. Did you like it? Then please build some decks and start testing them. Don't forget one thing though: No matter what kind of a deck you build, make sure that it can beat Control, it can survive Land Destruction and it can break some really annoying combos such as Opposition + Static Orb. Aggro would be a very good approach but there are also some other possibilities as well.

NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
Hunter and Prey

Next week I'm planeswalking to Zendikar and will be hunting some vampires. Apparently on Zendikar vampires are the ruling race and I'm going there to change that. Will I successfully hunt down those blood suckers or will I be just another prey? That dear readers, you will find out next week.

Thanks for reading.

See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman