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ROGUE PLAY Into the Core

by Nafiz Erman

Hello everybody and welcome to Rogue Play. I believe that articles are the mirrors of their authors. Perhaps you cannot make a 100% accurate character analysis by just reading ones articles, but they give you some small hints about him. Such as me and my articles.

If you are following my articles then you know one very important thing about me: I like chance. I like everything that is new. I like different tastes. I don't have the words "traditional" and "conservative" in my vocabulary. And that fact I also reflect to my articles. I never wrote about a certain format always and nonstop, but I always like to taste as many different formats as I can; and then I share my findings with you.

I started writing for www.puremtgo.com in March 2007 and so far I wrote about Standard, Kaleidoscope, 100 Card Singleton, Standard Pauper, Extended Vanguard, Standard Vanguard, Classic Tribal Wars, Standard Tribal Wars, TSP Block, ALA Block and lately started writing about ZEN Block. I was never a "professor" or a "guru" of a specific format but I was always your Jack of all trades. And now we have two new formats entering our lives: Standard Singleton and Core Set Constructed.

This week you'll read about Core Set Constructed from me. And guess what I'll write about very soon?

Yup, I heard you and that was the correct answer.

 

ENTERING THE FORMAT

Normally constructed formats are really expensive to play if you don't have a decent collection already. We all know the costs in Classic but other formats, even the recent ZEN Block, are no less. Start building a ZEN Block deck with four Lotus Cobras, four Day of Judgments, eight enemy fetchlands and add a few Sorin Markovs here and there, and you'll see what I mean.

And that's the reason why Core Set Constructed is different. The one and only superstar is Baneslayer Angel of course but let me tell you that contrary to the popular belief, she is not a must-have card in the format for Tier-1 decks as you will also see below for yourself. But before we start talking about strategies and decks, let's first talk about the rules of the format.

I've seen a lot of players asking the same question on MTGO; to me while playing or to ORCs: Which sets are legal in this format? Only M10?

The answer is no. All the available core sets are legal. Meaning these:

By the way you can of course play your non-Core Set cards if they ever printed in any one of them; like your MED Lightning Bolts are just fine or your Lorwyn Garruk Wildspeaker is also legal in the format. 

STAPLES OF THE FORMAT

The word "Staple" depends on what we understand from it, but there are some really nice cards which you can use in many different decks. Such as these:

WHITE

Wrath of God: You know everything there is to know about this one.

Disenchant: The format has some very nasty enchantments and artifacts, and Disenchant will be you best friend against them.

Baneslayer Angel: This is the most expensive card of the format. You should really play White if you own the card. But if you don't, there are still a lot of other options, so don't worry.

Honor of the Pure: White Weenie is a solid strategy in the format and this fine enchantment from M10 strengthens this strategy.

Circle of Protection: Red: The best anti-burn card for sideboards.

Condemn: The closest spell we have to Swords to Plowshares in the format.

Sacred Ground: Another fine sideboard card against decks with Stone Rain; and there are decks with Stone Rain!

These are the most important cards of White. Honor of the Pure may not be that global as the others but it's one of the most important parts of a specific White deck and therefore it is in the list.

 BLUE 

Counterspell: What good is Blue without this card? If counterspells are your thing then let me tell you that there are also tons of other good counterspells such as Mana Leak and Negate and Rewind in the format.

Boomerang: This isn't a Condemn or a Lightning Bolt but it's a Blue mage's removal spell.

Jace Beleren: The ultimate and unending source of card drawing for Blue decks (considering you can protect him of course). He also turns Mill decks into Tier-1 deck all by himself.

Flashfreeze: A fine addition to the sideboard of Blue decks.

Mind Control: This one and his brother Persuasion are cards that make creatureless Mono Blue decks possible. Why should one play any creatures when he can steal yours in the first place?

Opposition: This one has a deck of its own. Very deadly if left unchecked.

Ponder: The closest what we have to Brainstorm in Core Set Constructed.

And now we move onto Black.

 BLACK 

Duress: This is always a very useful card in all the formats it's legal and Core Set is no exception.

Persecute: There are a lot of mono color decks out there and this one is their biggest enemy. 

Deathmark: Such a fine sideboard card.

Doom Blade: Yes it doesn't work on creatures with Regenerate but that is a sacrifice we can tolerate as it kills Platinum Angel (whereas Terror can't).

Hypnotic Specter: Even without Dark Ritual this is a very deadly creature.

Phyrexian Arena: Always a staple in tournament decks.

Sign in Blood: Two black mana, two life, two cards. That simple. 

Let's move onto Red.

 RED 

Magnivore: The mighty Vore deck is back with Core Set Constructed. 

Lightning Bolt: Lightning Bolt for Red is what Counterspell is for Blue; indispensable.

Chandra Nalaar: Planeswalkers are the latest addition to core sets and this hot lady is one of the best ones.

Ball Lightning: A must-have card for Red Burn decks.

Bogardan Hellkite: If you like fatties, then this one is the best such creature among all colors in the format.

Earthquake: A board sweeper and an spell build into one card. A must for every deck playing Red.

Kird Ape: Zoo anyone?

Very good cards. And now we take a brief look at Green.

 GREEN 

Garruk Wildspeaker: Without doubt he is the best planeswalker in the format. 

Birds of Paradise: Who doesn't like this cute bird? Perfect for mana fixing.

Naturalize: See Disenchant above.

Great Sable Stag: Such a fine sideboard card. Some use it in the main deck too. Mono Blue Control decks with Mind Control tricks, have no answer to this.

Hurricane: Earthquake's sister.

Plow Under: You know why this is such a good card.

Troll Ascetic: We are all used to play creatures with Shroud in other formats but Shroud in those formats isn't something that special. But please take a look at the creatures in this format and then we'll talk.

And now we move onto the staples of colorless cards.

 COLORLESS 

Pithing Needle: If you go out without this one, you will return home sad. Very sad.

Treetop Village: Manlands are good and this is the best one.

Platinum Angel: You would be surprised to see how valuable this one is in the format.

Painlands and M10 Duals: The must-have cards for multicolor decks.

Dragon's Claw: If you can't play Circle of Protection: Red just because you don't play White, then this artifact is your best friend against Burn decks.

Crucible of Worlds: Interesting on its own but in the right deck, it becomes totally annoying and devastating at the same time. It is also non-white decks' Sacred Ground.

Defense Grid: No Blue mage would like to see this.

And these are all the most important cards for the format. And why did I show you all these cards? First of all, I showed them to you because I wanted to prove you that this is the most budget friendly Constructed format after Pauper (correct me please if it isn't). And secondly these are all very powerful cards on their own. So you will be playing some really powerful cards and you will do so without exceeding your monthly Magic budget. I mean, what more do you want?!

There is also one final thing I want to say about Core Set Constructed. Currently there are five sets legal in the format. If you think this is too few, please let me remind you that Standard these days only has the same amount of sets available; the ALA Block (three sets), M10 and Zendikar. And please also do not forget that Conflux and Alara Reborn are small sets. Yes I'm aware that there are also a lot of reprints in core sets too but that's still a lot of cards to choose from.

 

STRATEGIES - PART I
Old Friends

When we are talking about big and important cards from core sets, the first one that immediately comes to my mind is Magnivore and thus this deck:

 

I have so many good memories with Magnivore as it was my very first tournament deck. Back then Eye of Nowhere was in Standard and thus the deck was able to start messing with opponent's lands as early as turn two.

For those who have no idea about this deck, here's a short explanation: This is an LD deck but LD this time stands for Land Denial instead of Land Destruction. You send back opponent's lands with Boomerang, destroy a few with Stone Rain, steal some with Annex and build your mana base in the meantime. And finally you cast Wildfire and leave him without lands (or with only a few), whereas you normally sacrifice less lands thanks to Annex (you sacrifice the lands you stole from your opponent).

Volcanic Hammer and Pyroclasm help you to deal with creatures and you always keep a full hand with Ponder, Divination and Tidings. Also please note that all those cards are sorceries and when the time comes, you play your gigantic haste Magnivore and usually kill the opponent in two turns.

By the way I've seen some players playing Earthquake and/or Fireball in their main deck. If you like those spells, you can always cut Pyroclasm or Volcanic Hammer from my list and replace them with any of those two.

The sideboard has Cryoclasm against decks, Flashfreeze against decks (or decks that play any one of those colors of course), it has Pillage against artifacts and decks playing manlands and finally Pithing Needle mainly against planeswalkers.

This is a very nice deck and I've seen a lot of people testing this deck. It isn't as strong as it used to be once, but still it's a solid choice.

From one solid choice, let's move onto another one.

 

This is another deck that people resurrected as soon as Core Set became an official format. Actually when I first heard about the format, I immediately thought of building a Vore deck but this one I somehow forgot totally. Then while playtesting I came across this one many times and those games were enough to refresh my memories.

What we have here is a very nasty deck that has the potential to lock the opponent completely. Even without Static Orb, Opposition is enough to cause tons of trouble to the poor opponent but when combined with the Orb, there is little left for the opponent to do to break the lock.

The deck creates tokens with Garruk Wildspeaker and with Ant Queen but early game all those tiny elves you see in deck also work as tokens. Merfolk Looter helps you to dig deeper into your deck and Troll Ascetic works as an early blocker and as an alternate finisher. I've also seen some players playing Civic Wayfinder instead of the troll for more mana and for fixing mana.

And when the lock is in place, Mana Leak turns into a solid Counterspell and with it and also with Negate, you prevent the opponent from doing funny things. And finally when the time is right, you tap all the opposing creatures and lands and attack with your tokens after using Mr. Wildspeaker's ultimate Overrun ability.

Of course this is a slow deck and not all of the players like such slow decks that lock the opponent first and then win. If you are also one of those players, then you should check the next deck.

 

What we have here is pure aggression. Mono White Weenie was always one of the first choices of Aggro lovers and it is no different in Core Set Constructed. But instead of starting a deck with Savannah Lions and some other such iconic White creatures, the White Weenie nowadays prefers a more Tribal approach and plays Soldiers; mainly from M10.

As you can also see, the deck above is almost M10 legal. But the other few non-M10 cards are also incredibly useful such as Field Marshal who pumps your soldiers and gives them first strike, and Longbow Archer which is an excellent weenie creature. And Seasoned Marshal is also very useful as you can tap that scary Baneslayer Angel with it and attack safely.

The real power of this deck is that it can turn its small creatures into real monsters and this is done only within a few turns. Pyroclasm mean nothing to this deck and to clear the table with an Earthquake one must have a lot of mana as well as a lot of "spare life"! Just watch out for Wrath of God and you'll do fine.

Mono White is not the only mono colored deck option in the format by the way. There are both Mono Red Burn and Mono Black Control. Check these two decks first:

 

And now the Mono Black Control:

 

The first one is a very straightforward deck. You just burn everything, play Ball Lightning and Spark Elemental to deal damage early game and lower your opponent's life total to below ten and then continue burning everything. This strategy is so simple and yet so effective. In almost every format it is possible to see some form of Mono Red Burn deck and apparently Core Set Constructed will be no exception.

The second one is one of my favorite decks in the format. At first glance playing Mono Black in Core Set Constructed may not seem as the ideal option. After all, you don't have a way to deal with artifacts, enchantments and a simple Protection from Black White Knight may mean the end of the story. But please take a look at the above deck once again dear readers. This isn't a mindless Mono Black Aggro deck. This deck has answers to almost everything.

First of all even Blue decks would envy this deck's ability to draw cards. The "Phyrexian Trio" of Phyrexian Arena, Phyrexian Rager and Phyrexian Gargantua means a constant supply of cards and there are also Sign in Blood and late game Mind Stone. And what does it do with all those cards? It destroys creatures, it drains opponent's life, it makes him discard his cards and finally burns him with Consume Spirit or Corrupts him. If they somehow fail, the necromancer Liliana Vess is always there to cast a deadly Living Death.

Oh and I shouldn't forget to mention those four copies of Gargoyle Castles too, as they also serve as win conditions.

Okay dear readers, these were the so called "old friends". Vore and Opposition decks are Tier-1 decks once again in this format and some known strategies we can always trust such as White Weenie, Burn or Mono Black are also viable in Core Set Constructed.

And now let's take a look at some of the new faces.

 

STRATEGIES - PART II
New Faces

Above you saw some decks that you already played in the past. It's very nice to re-visit them but do they define the meta? Are they invincible? Can nothing new be done? Dear readers, you should know that if that were the case, I would never write this article.

Let's start with this one:

 

Planeswalkers, planeswalkers and planeswalkers. This deck is all about them. And why? Because they are the hardest permanent to deal with in this format. No Oblivion Ring. No Vampire Hexmage. No Maelstrom Pulse, no Vindicate, not even the clumsy Mold Shambler. Only a weak Planar Cleansing which no one is playing. So why not take advantage of this fact?

What we have here is one of the decks I heavily playtested and the result were all very nice. Mr. Wildspeaker is an amazing planeswalker to start with. His neverending 3/3 Beasts either can win you the game or help you not to lose it. On the other hand, sadly Ajani Goldmane is no Ajani Vengeant. But he is useful in two things. Two life per turn is clearly very important against some Aggro or Burn decks and the +1/+1 counters going to all my creatures are also useful. Ever attacked with a 4/5 Birds of Paradise or a 5/5 Llanowar Elves?

And finally I have Liliana Vess who can wreak havoc on players who would like to keep big hands. She's also very useful in tutoring my Baneslayer Angel. And the rest of the deck must be self-explanatory I guess.

The sideboard is mainly built against Control decks because they are the main problem that cause me the most trouble. Defense Grid is against counterspells (and there are a lot of decks with counterspells), Pithing Needle is against everything with an activated ability and Disenchant is mainly against opposing Pithing Needles.

If you liked my Planeswalkers! deck, then you may also want to check the next one out:

 

I built this deck based upon the same formula as the first one. This deck loses White and that means bye-bye to Wrath of God and Baneslayer Angel but it has Red and that means bye-bye to that weak Ajani Goldmane and hello to Chandra Nalaar as well as Lightning Bolt and Bogardan Hellkite.

To be honest this is the deck I played the most and I even took it to five 2mans. I went 3-2 with the deck and I lost two matches because I couldn't draw my Pithing Needles even though I had three in deck. The other three I won all 2-1 against one Mono Red Burn, one Vore and one Mono White Aggro.

The only problem I can tell you from my personal experience is the lack of life gain in the deck. I lost one 2man to a Mono Red Burn deck which I know I could have won if only I had a way to gain two or three life maximum. The final third game was that close. That for example was a game in which I missed my Ajani Goldmane and my Baneslayer Angel the most.

From the planeswalkers in the format, let's move onto another favorite strategy of mine which is Reanimator.

 

This deck may seem slow to you at first glance but let me tell you dear readers that a turn four Bogardan Hellkite can NEVER be considered as slow. 

The deck has six resurrection targets which you see above under the "Creatures" section. I searched for some real monsters in core sets equivalent to Empyrial Archangel or Inkwell Leviathan but sadly found none such creature. I was mainly looking for something really big with shroud or half shroud such as Troll Ascetic. But at the end I decided to go with Bogardan Hellkite mainly due to its "deals 5 damage" part on its gametext.

I send creatures to the graveyard with Peace of Mind and Catalog and Sift. Yes I'm aware that Catalog is nowhere near being a Compulsive Research but it is the best we have in core sets. And I'm sure that I don't have to tell you how useful Peace of Mind is; especially against Aggro and/or Burn decks.

And finally I have both Zombify and Breath of Life in deck as my resurrection spells. And the rest is just for protection, card drawing and mana generation.

The fourth deck I'm going to present you is also one of my favorite strategies currently in Standard.

 

People already play Mill decks in the format but mine is a replica of the well known Standard deck called Turbo Fog. Many players don't want to splash Green for just Fog and play  versions. But I see no harm in splashing Green; because even though it offers me one card only, that one card is really worth it.

What I don't have and really miss is actually Font of Mythos. But I replaced it with Sculpting Steel which copies Howling Mine when it enters the battlefield. I also miss my Reliquary Tower and that land I replaced with a lone copy of the good old Spellbook.

I may have lost two good cards but this deck has the privilege of playing Exhaustion instead of Sleep. They both do similar things but I mean really; you can't even compare them with each other. Exhaustion is simply the best card in that category by far.

And finally if you really don't want to add Green for just one single card, then you can replace Fog with this one:

Especially during early game there won't be that many creatures with power greater than three, and therefore most of the time Blessed Reversal will act as Fog. Just save your Holy Days and Safe Passages for later turns and cast Blessed Reversal early game. This way you will get rid of Green and will be able to play a two color deck.

And as you see, the sideboard has four copies of Circle of Protection: Red. The biggest enemy of this deck is neither Aggro nor Control decks; it is Mono Red Burn decks. And therefore I added four cards against one specific deck. Without that enchantment, I have absolutely no chance against Mono Red Burn.

Having said Mono Red Burn, I'm going to show you a final deck which is an interesting Mono Red deck.

 

Recently in a 2man someone played something similar to this against me and I must admit that I liked it a lot. Of course I lost 0-2 but I must say it was worth the two tickets I spent. And above you see what I made up myself around that idea.

This deck wins in two ways. The first way is the obvious Magnivore. There are no instants in this deck and apart from three copies of Chandra Nalaar, every card is there to pump up the Vore, so that you can attack with a 10/10 haste creature when the time comes.

The second way is actually a very original way and it is the reason why I'm showing you this deck. It's winning with a neverending army of 3/4 Gargoyles. How? Well, you first send Gargoyle Castle to the graveyard and get yourself your 3/4 flying token. Then you play Gargoyle Castle again thanks to Crucible of Worlds from your graveyard. Your opponent's removal spells has an end but you can generate as many 3/4 flyers as you like.

Of course the opponent may try to shut down Gargoyle Castle by playing Pithing Needle and naming the land. But that is one of the reasons why this deck has four Pillages in the main deck and three Demolishes in the sideboard (the other reason is of course manlands, Treetop Village being the main target. And then there are always some players playing Platinum Angel).

And last but not least in Core Set Constructed format you can always try this old friend:

Wouldn't it be simply awesome?

 

WRAP UP AND A PLEA

And so we come to the end of another Rogue Play. During my playtesting I did for this article, I saw that this format is a lot of fun to play. You can play your beloved old strategies in this format or you can always try new innovative decks. And the cost of entering the format is much lower than other Constructed formats. Just try a few of the decks you see here or build a few on your own and see how much addicting the format can get by yourself.

And finally I would like to kindly ask from MTGO Online Staff to add a "Core Set" filter to the deckbuilder screen. As it is now, it is really a pain to go through all the core sets and build a deck.

Thank you.

 

NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
You Decide

"You Decide" is not the title of my next article by the way. I want you dear readers to decide what you want to read from me next week. The options are:

a) Standard 60 Card Singleton: I have already an article under construction about the format which shows how to build a deck for the format. I am building two decks in the article and explain the deck building process step by step.
b) Standard Tribal Wars: Now that Lorwyn/Shadowmoor sets have rotated out, we can once again start talking about the format. Which tribes are Tier-1? How to build decks for those tribes? Any rogue deck possibilities?
c) ZEN Block: I have started collecting my virtual Zendikar cards and I'm ready to start playing in tournaments. What do people play? What deck do I play and why do I play it? The article will also have detailed match reports. It's time to see all those theoretical information in action.
d) Core Set Constructed: All these decks in this article are fine but maybe you want to see some in action. Tell me and action you shall have.
e) Standard Pauper: A new era starts for this format and I have some really cool decks ready to test. Do you want to read about them?
f) Standard Constructed: The new meta is more or less defined... but maybe it's not! I have a few rogue decks for Standard that you might want to read about.
g) Anything Else: Maybe you have some other formats in mind. Tell me and convince me to write about it.
 

Okay, these are the options. You tell me which one and that you will have next week.

Thanks for reading.

See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman