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ROGUE PLAY
Hunter And Prey
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| by Nafiz Erman |
Hello dear readers and welcome to another edition of Rogue Play. Last week was a really hectic week for me in terms of my weekly MTGO activities. Since weeks I was very busy with the new MTGO-only formats and last week I finally found time to try ZEN Block; the one format I was wanting to try since Zendikar's release.
The new set, which isn't actually that new anymore, has a lot of interesting cards and I couldn't think of a better format than ZEN Block to play them. Standard is more or less defined; it's this or that version of Jund with a few rogue decks here and there. Yes, I'm seeing some really very interesting deck lists every now and then such as that Mono Green Nissa deck and also some others too, but nothing interesting enough to make me try Standard these days. Of course you may ask "Why not play Jund then?".
My problem with Jund is this actually: I played an incredible amount of ALA Block games last year and Jund together with Naya were the decks I played heavily. And now I find no amusement in playing cards like Broodmate Dragon, Sprouting Thrinax or Blightning. People were too busy last year playing their Fae decks and now the whole concept of Jund is kind of new to them. But for me it's just another "been there, done that" type of deck.
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| Sorry dude(s), I already had my fun with you last year. You're not that exciting anymore. |
And thus I decided to planeswalk to Zendikar and started my hunt for some Vampires.
But before I start telling you my adventures on Zendikar, I must tell you one other thing. Preparing this article cost me a lot. Not as in money though. While playing in 2mans and Daily Events, in one week I lost over a hundred rating points. Yes they are not visible anymore publicly but hey!; I can see my own big failure. When I first began my crusade against the vampires, I was at 1722 and now that number seems miles away. But I'm not sad; at least I was able to bring you, dear readers, this (fine?) article with lots of facts and data about the format.
And finally before I start, I think that we should all be clear about ZEN Block meta. Otherwise most of my card choices in my decks won't make any sense at all.
THE META
Well, actually there isn't much to talk about ZEN meta. It's vampires, vampires, 
Control, vampires, vampires, another Control and then vampires and vampires.
I'm actually talking about something like this:
Or something like this:
And finally something like this:
Actually there are almost infinite different versions of Vampires but looking at those three decks, you will get the general idea about this deck type.
To be honest, I must (and you must too!) admit one thing: Vampires.dec is the best deck in the format. Actually I have never seen one deck this potent in any block format so far. And this deck is Mono Black! This is very interesting actually because as we all know, Black isn't exactly the color to deal with some certain types of permanents; such as artifacts and enchantments.
Let's look at the strengths of this deck and try to understand why it's so perfect:
1) It is a very aggressive deck: It was a long time ago, when we all last played a 2/2 Black creature without the aid of Dark Ritual on our first turn. But Vampire Lacerator is not alone in this deck. Bloodghast just doesn't know how to die! Vampire Hexmage is an excellent 2/1 first striker and Vampire Nighthawk is a joke!
Of course, if Vampire Nighthawk is a joke, then I don't even know how to describe Quest for the Gravelord. A 5/5 for a mere 
...
And please note that the deck has a very nice mana curve and some versions, such as the last one above, can operate with only twenty two lands.
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2) As expected, the deck has a lot of spot removal: This actually was always Black's strength and this deck is no exception. Feast of Blood, Disfigure, Hideous End are the first obvious ones. But even Sorin Markov works as a removal.
3) It has a nice "edict-on-legs": I'm of course talking about Gatekeeper of Malakir and you only understand how important it is after you kill a Devout Lightcaster or a Sphinx of Jwar Isle with it.
4) It has many ways to resurrect its dead creatures: If you play a deck with lots of creatures, you must be prepared to have a graveyard with lots of creatures. But unlike other Aggro decks, this one doesn't mourn for its dead. Because it can resurrect them. And at what price?!! Bloodghast is free and Soul Stair Expedition costs what... only? And if you like, you can always play Grim Discovery.
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5) The deck has Marsh Casualties: Normally this deck has enough cards to deal with the opposing creatures one by one. But when one by one isn't enough, this deck always has Marsh Casualties at its disposal. It kills most of the creatures in mirror matches, it kills Kor decks and it kills Landfall Weenie playing Plated Geopede and Steppe Lynx.
6) This deck can deal with enchantments: That is of course, to a certain extend. The format has lots of enchantments that require counters on them such as Quest for the Gravelord or Luminarch Ascension and Vampires.dec never (or let's say rarely) loses to them thanks to Vampire Hexmage.
7) This deck can make you discard lots of cards: And that happens thanks to Mind Sludge. I personally would always prefer Duress or Thoughtseize over this one but we don't have them in ZEN Block and you would be surprised to see how well Mind Sludge is working in this format. Mind Sludge is a real nightmare for those decks that like to wait and keep a full hand. Because all of a sudden, that full hand is becoming an empty hand with this card.
8) This deck can gain life: You may think that building a faster deck and dealing damage faster than the vampire player, could be a way to the victory. Sadly it isn't. Cards like Sorin Markov, Feast of Blood, Vampire Nighthawk (I told you this one's a joke) and Malakir Bloodwitch, ensure that the pilot stays alive long enough.
9) This deck even has direct damage!: I'm mainly talking about Hideous End here. It not only destroys your precious creature but it also makes you lose two life. And of course there is always that "big spell" called Blood Tribute.
10) It can deal with annoying lands: People build decks around Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Emeria, the Sky Ruin. Those lands can really be annoying and can get out of hand very quickly if left unchecked but thankfully Black decks have Desecrated Earth at their disposal.
11) And finally this deck has Sorin Markov: He is simply awesome. He is simply the best planeswalker in the format. You may think that it's odd to play a card that costs 
in the format but let me tell you that games don't end on turn four in this format and even an Aggro deck such as this one can reach to six mana very often. And some players, as you can see also above, like to be prepared for those late turns.
Okay now you know why Vampires.dec is so good. And now you also know what you will face if you ever decide to play ZEN Block.
MY FIRST ATTEMPT
Mono White Control
Normally I'm a very rational person. If I try something and see that it's not working, I can accept my failure and move on. I normally never allow my emotions to get in the way when I'm making my decisions. Is it nice? Yes. Is it working? No. Then it's over, next one please.
But sometimes something that I cannot explain happens to me. I somehow turn into a stubborn person. I insist on NOT accepting the reality and pretend that everything will be fine at the end. That happens very rarely to me but everytime it happens, it ends with real losses and pain. And sadly my first attempt for ZEN Block is such a story.
Since the release of Zendikar, I'm toying with a Mono White deck and I also shared its very first version with you here. Since then the deck has evolved and I thought it was good enough to win against the vampires.
I was wrong.
To understand that I was wrong, I spent a good amount of time and tickets in 2mans. I saw a couple of things:
1) Malakir Bloodwitch was a real problem.
2) Not everyone was playing vampires! A shocking fact from the format actually. People were also abusing Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and I had absolutely no way of dealing with that land.
3) I wasn't the only one playing Mono White and I wasn't the only one trying to abuse Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
4) And finally I wasn't the only one playing Iona, Shield of Emeria.
So I stopped playing in 2mans and decided to test the deck more properly in the Tournament Practice Room. When I stopped, this was the deck I was playing.
And after many practice games, the deck became this:
What do you think?
Most probably you think that this is a very odd deck; especially the sideboard. But please allow me to explain what's going on here and also the differences between two versions.
Kor Cartographer: I need big mana and this creature is helping me to get to that big mana.
Kor Sanctifiers: I tried two copies, I tried four copies but realized (after losing many games), that three in the main deck and one in the sideboard is the optimal solution.
Emeria Angel: A real winner.
Felidar Sovereign: This is a late addition to the deck. Against Aggro decks of all sorts, I lose life with an incredible speed. I must have a way to gain that life back and this cat beast is helping me in that matter. I started testing with one copy, then two copies and then three but ended up with a full playset.
World Queller: I started with four but to make room for my Felidar Sovereigns, I had to cut one. This is one of my three ways to deal with the boring Malakir Bloodwitch.
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My removal package consists of three cards. I have four Day of Judgment and four Journey to Nowheres and I thing that there is nothing extraordinary here. But I have also have a Red card; Burst Lightning. More on this later.
Expedition Map: I have a couple of reasons to play a full playset of this card. The main reason is to get my Emeria, the Sky Ruin out on time. Then I use it to fetch my fetchlands when I have Emeria Angel on table (so that I achieve Landfall). But the other reason is my sideboard actually.
Demolish: There can only be one player abusing Emeria, the Sky Ruin in our game and that player has to be me! Also, there can be NO player in our game abusing Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Don't even think about it! I pack LD. I lost to those lands enough times and this is the reason why I have Demolish in the sideboard. Oh and a full playset is a must. Three is just not enough.
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Burst Lightning: Okay the first version had this card in the sideboard but then I decided to remove Pitfall Trap from the first version and brought this one to the maindeck. Reason? Simple really.
I really do hate this card. Normally and usually, the vampire player always tricks me to cast Day of Judgment to get rid of his two or three unimportant creatures and then he casts his bloodwitch. And then I'm toast. I lost too many games like that. Yes, World Queller helps but only if the opponent somehow doesn't have a Hideous End in his hand. Which happens rarely.
So I think that you now see the reason why I have four Expedition Maps in deck. You also see the reason why I run Arid Mesa.
Not exactly the cards one would expect from Mono White
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Luminarch Ascension: Actually I target three decks with my sideboard. One is obviously vampires with Malakir Bloodwitch (which deserves a special treatment), the second deck type is decks that abuse lands (such as my own) and the third deck type is that Control. And Luminarch Ascension is my biggest weapon in those games. Most of the time they pack only four Cancel and no other counterspells and that makes it more likely to sneak one through.
Iona, Shield of Emeria: I have two in the sideboard which I side in against Mono White, Control and 
Mana Ramp decks.
Devout Lightcaster: An obvious choice. The first version had this one in the main deck but against any other non-vampires deck, this one turns into a very bad 2/2 vanilla creature that costs to cast. So I moved it to sideboard.
Actually I would love to have a fourth World Queller and at least two Conqueror's Pledge in my sideboard but unfortunately I have no empty slots. You may think that Burst Lightning, Demolish and a Mountain would not be that necessary for a Mono White deck but trust me dear readers, they are a must.
I lost too many games to Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. I lost too many games to Emeria, the Sky Ruin. And I lost way too many games to Malakir Bloodwitch.
As I said somewhere above, I normally try something and if it's not working, I stop trying it no matter how cool the idea may seem at first. But this wasn't the case with this deck. I simply insisted to make it work! Normally I should not have done that. I should have said "Mono White is good but not that good". At the end I ended up with a really good deck which isn't actually fully Mono White but at what price? I lost tickets, I lost precious (to me at least) rating points, I lost my nerves and I lost time.
But finally I can say that even though the damage was huge, the result was satisfying. I strongly recommend you to practice this deck in the Tournament Practice Room against good decks. You will see that it can win against every deck apart from one (but I will talk about that one below in a moment). I am also seeing some other versions of Mono White in Top-8s of Daily Events, so you may also want to look at them too.
I also see these days other players packing Red in their Mono White decks. This I think was the next logical step of this deck but unfortunately I realized this very late. Very late. The damage was already done. Now my deck has a considerably good match-up against the vampires. But if so, then you may ask why I am not playing it anymore.
As I said, that is because of a one specific deck which I kept facing in Daily Events very often. That deck was winning against my Mono White deck without any hassle so I just had to switch to something else.
I first switched to this.
MY SECOND ATTEMPT
White/Blue Control
Actually Control decks can be seen in tournaments and every now and then, one even wins the tournament! But even though this is a good deck, still the Top-8 decks from events are like six vampires and two something else. But I know that this deck is a good deck and in fact I have witnessed it chewing vampires a few times.
It was another Daily Event (in which I ended up with a bitter 1-3; surprised?), and between rounds I was watching the replays. That one guy who was playing vampires was playing that other guy playing Control.
It was late game and the vampire guy had Bloodghast, Vampire Nighthawk and one Quest for the Gravelord with two counters on table. The other guy only had tons of lands and one Devout Lightcaster on table; and he had a low life total.
During his turn the vampire player played Sorin Markov and used Sorin's first Vicious Hunger ability on the Control player. Then he attacked with his Vampire Nighthawk. The other guy was sitting at three life after this attack and I thought he was simply toast. I mean what could possibly save him? Day of Judgment? No it wouldn't help a bit. A shroud Sphinx of Jwar Isle? Maybe earlier it could have helped but not at three life. So I thought that the game was over. But surprisingly it wasn't over.
Click here to see what he played.
He played it by paying also its kicker cost and targeted his own Devout Lightcaster. And all of a sudden things have changed. Those copies exiled Sorin Markov, Quest for the Gravelord, Bloodghast and Vampire Nighthawk, and then it wasn't that hard to win against a Mono Black deck with SIX Protection from Black creatures (five copies and one original).
So I said "I must do that too!" and searched for some good deck lists. And here are the ones I found:
And here's another one:
Okay, so you see here two decks and even though they both play the same strategy and same colors, they are in reality different decks. And after analyzing them and some other decks I found on the internet, I decided built myself something in between.
I decided to try this one:
And what am I doing with this deck?
Well, I try to keep things under control with my counterspells, with my removal spells and with some bounce, I draw cards in the meantime and then try to finish the game either with my angel or with my sphinx; and sometimes with my tokens created by my Rite of Replication.
I still keep the Demolish tech in the sideboard and also the lone Mountain (which I can fetch with one of my four fetchlands). Against other Control decks I side in my ascensions and my third Mindbreak Trap. Against Valakut and/or Emeria decks I side in my LD package. And against vampires I side in my Devout Lightcaster and some Kor Sanctifiers.
And what happened with this deck? Well, it would be a lie if I tell you that I managed to win always against the vampires. I actually don't think that there is a deck that can do that. I won a 2man 2-0 against a vampires deck and the next one I lost 1-2 to the same deck (played by the same player). It all depends on what you have in hand. An early package of removal is a must. If you start the game with some lands, the sphinx and some Cancels, you're simply toast. I found that out the hard way.
And then there is this card:
Somewhere above I told you that this card works like a charm in this format. Yes it really does. When you're at four life, the opponent casts a Vampire Lacerator and you counter it because you have no other option and have a low life (the other option is actually not to counter it and waste your Day of Judgment on it the next turn). And after that the opponent plays his Mind Sludge and you simply discard all your precious cards in hand (including that Day of Judgment you tried to save for later). So devastating.
So I found out one thing: Vampires have everything to play around a Control deck. It just depends on the skill of the pilot. He has so many different weapons to kill you and I found out that I was not able to handle them all with a Control deck.
But as I said, people even win whole tournaments with this deck. I just couldn't. So you may try it; in fact you should try it if you don't like playing vampires.
MY THIRD ATTEMPT
Green/White Mana Ramp
Somewhere above while talking about my first attempt, I told you that I was always losing to one certain deck and that was a Mana Ramp deck. I don't see this deck that often in the Tournament Practice Room but everytime I joined a Daily Event with my Mono White deck, I had to play AT LEAST two times against this deck. That must be my bad luck I guess.
And why I was losing to it? Because has only one aim and that is to cast Iona, Shield of Emeria as soon as possible. Against vampires this could be a problem but against decks that give the pilot enough time to build up his mana base, this is a child's play. And both with my Mono White and with my Control deck, I was giving my opponent that time. And the result was an Iona, Shield of Emeria everytime!
Recently in an event I saw yaya3, the player of the year, playing this one. So I said "if he's playing it, then it must be good". And I deceided to give it a try.
Here's what I played.
This deck can do some really funny things. Such as playing Iona, Shield of Emeria on turn five.
The whole idea here is to mana ramp as quickly as possible and then start playing those gigantic creatures seen in the deck. And please also note that I play eight creatures with Landfall. And that's another use of my mana cards. Early game Harrow helps me to accelerate mana and late game it gives me either two 4/4s or two 1/1 flyers.
And then there is the superstar of the deck which is without doubt Summoning Trap. A Harrow on turn three can result in a turn five Summoning Trap. Most of the time I either play it at the end of my opponent's turn or after he declares his attackers during combat. And most of the time I get just what I need; a Rampaging Baloths or better an Iona, Shield of Emeria.
The sideboard also offers some nice options. Luminarch Ascension is there against Control as usual and Devout Lightcaster is there against vampires as usual. Then I have four Mold Shamblers which can also act as Kor Sanctifiers but I mainly use them against decks with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and/or Emeria, the Sky Ruin. And finally I have this one in the sideboard:
And you guess why I have this spider in the sideboard.
After many attempts and many decks, I can easily say that this is the deck I like the most. Mono White match-up is just an auto-win. They can never cast their Iona, Shield of Emeria as fast as I do and thus simply lose. Control match-up is 60% to my favor. I play an Emeria Angel and they do the biggest mistake of countering it with Cancel. What happens then? I play my Summoning Trap for free and get me an Iona, Shield of Emeria. Very nice.
Vampires.dec is not an easy match-up but then again, that deck is never an easy match-up for any deck. Sometimes I win the first game and sometimes I lose it. But after sideboarding I'm the one with more options. Because I bring in Devout Lightcaster and Oran-Rief Recluse and as long as I can somehow avoid an early Mind Sludge, I do fine against that deck. Some players side in Sadistic Sacrament against me but I must say that I prefer seeing that one instead of Mind Sludge.
Recently in a Daily Event I went 2-2 with this deck and two of my matches were against Vampires. The other two were against some kind of a bizarre 
rogue deck. It seems that as the writer of Rogue Play, those rogue decks in tournaments always find me and beat me.
Anyway, I will not talk about the whole tournament but I will only talk about the first two games in detail. So that you can see what this deck CAN do and CAN'T do.
GAME 1
Opponent: nui2u85
Playing: Vampires
He starts the first game with a turn two Vampire Hexmage and I follow him with a turn two Khalni Heart Expedition. He attacks with his Hexmage but strangely doesn't play any other creatures. On my fourth turn I play my Emeria Angel but the poor angel becomes the target of the Gatekeeper of Malakir.
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The next turn I play another Emeria Angel and play a land and get me a 1/1 Bird. That land also means that my Khalni Heart Expedition is ready to crack. During his turn he fist kills my angel with his Feast of Blood and then attacks with his Hexmage and his Gatekeeper. I try to kill his Gatekeeper but a Disfigure ruins that plan by killing one of my birds.
Even though things don't look that bright, during my turn I reach to eight mana and send the Gatekeeper to a Journey to Nowhere. I pass the turn with six open mana and as expected during his turn my opponent attacks with his lone Hexmage. But I have a trap ready for him which happens to be my Summoning Trap.
My trap card gets me my Rampaging Baloths and the beast easily kills the tiny bug loving vampire. During my turn I attack with my beast and even though my opponent has three mysterious cards in his hand, he does nothing. But that means the end of the game because I play my ninth land and then my Iona, Shield of Emeria. He obviously concedes.
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Sideboard:
-4 Emeria Angel, -3 Kor Sanctifiers
+4 Devout Lightcaster, +3 Oran-Rief Recluse
Now please someone tell me this: What are the possibilities of starting the game with zero lands and then after mulligan having another hand with zero lands and then after mulliganing to five having yet ANOTHER hand with ZERO lands and then mulliganing to four to see three lands??!??!
Dear Mr. Shuffler. Please do tell me why you don't love me.
*sigh*
Anyway, I have no reason to concede before playing so I keep that hand. He starts by playing some enchantments but thankfully no creatures. During his third turn he brings in a Vampire Nighthawk and I play a Khalni Heart Expedition. I keep playing lands and fix my mana with my expedition and play my Devout Lightcaster and enter the top-deck mode.
As expected, my Devout Lightcaster can't pay the toll to the Gatekeeper of Malakir and heads to the graveyard. My top-decking skills are sharp and I get me a second Devout Lightcaster and send one of his Quest for the Gravelords to oblivion. But unfortunately my second Kor Cleric shares the same fate as the first one and now I am sitting against two Gatekeeper of Malakirs.
The next turn my fine top-decking skills give me a Summoning Trap and with an evil grin on my face I pass the turn. My opponent attacks with his two Gatekeepers and I cast my Summoning Trap and guess what I get.
Yep, you're correct. I get me that one. That big one. That one with wings.
Game: 2-0
GAME 2
Opponent: dw5671
Playing: Vampires
I am facing the same deck and after a merciless and swift win in the first round, I am very confident that I will win this one too. However this time things are a little bit different.
My opponent starts with Vampire Hexmage, kills my Emeria Angel with his Gatekeeper of Malakir and pumps his two Quest for the Gravelords. At seven life I finally clear the table but the silence on table doesn't last long and my opponent comes back with a Malakir Bloodwitch. I have two turns to get me another Day of Judgment but I unfortunately fail.
Sideboard:
-4 Emeria Angel, -3 Kor Sanctifiers
+4 Devout Lightcaster, +3 Oran-Rief Recluse
He starts slow and plays a buch of enchantments. I play my lands and keep my perfect hand which includes a Devout Lightcaster, a Day of Judgment, an Oran-Rief Recluse and a Summoning Trap.
During his fifth turn, when my opponent has no creatures on table he does the one thing I fear; he casts a Mind Sludge. I hate this card! I discard my hand but only keep my Day of Judgment. During my turn I draw a land and during his turn he plays yet another Mind Sludge! Did I tell you that I hate this card?
With nothing in hand it takes only a few turns for him to win. I try to play a few creatures in the meantime but they all die and the game ends in a short time.
Game: 0-2
Two games, both against the same deck but in one game my opponent couldn't (or didn't) play a Mind Sludge and I won 2-0. In the other one my opponent did play a Mind Sludge (two to be exact) and I lost 0-2.
ONE LAST POSSIBILITY
There is one last deck that I think could be worth to try and that is something like this:
I haven't tested this and as a matter of fact I can't test this in the near future as I neither own Nissa Revane nor Eldrazi Monument. And looking at their prices, I don't think that I will own any very soon. But if you have those cards you might want to try this deck. At least in theory it looks very solid to me.
CONCLUSION
My tale ends here. Unfortunately I wasn't able to tell you a tale of glory. I wasn't able to tell you how I smashed the vampires with my rogue decks. I went to Zendikar as the hunter but became just another prey. But there is a lesson you should learn from this article: "Vampires rule Zendikar" is not a myth, that is the reality. I envy those who win tournaments with their non-vampire decks; but then I look at all those deck lists from Daily Events once again and I see that I actually envy only a few players.
A better player than me with a better deck than mines can go 3-1 in the format with a non-vampires deck but I personally think that going 4-0 is really very hard. Especially if you think that you will most definately play at least three out of four of your matches against vampires and in those games you will most definately face Mind Sludge. You may counter it once and you may counter it twice. But do you believe that you can do it all the time?
NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
Tribes at War
Last week was very tiring for me as you can see above. I lost time, I lost tickets, I lost precious rating points and I lost my nerves. And all those I did to prove a fact I already knew; vampires.dec is the best deck in the format.
Next week I will be spending my time playing a format I'm good at; Classic Tribal Wars. Every Saturday there is a PRE for the lovers of this format and also there is a new league to test your decks. If you like the format and are looking for some nice ideas, then my next article might be useful for you. I will talk about decks and tribes but I will also talk about a few other things as well.
Thanks for reading.
See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman
19 Comments
What is funny is I talked with Louigi abit about the format because while I don't own the cards to build with it adds some interesting new mechanics to explore. GW (very similar to yours in fact) is one of the decks we discussed. Particularly re Iona and Summoning trap. Some interesting decks there LE. :) Anyway one of these days we will face off in the TWC PE events. I look forward to this.
Very nice article.
I also get attached to certain ideas and stick with them even after I have enough painful losses to prove that those ideas aren't tier 1 competitive.
I don`t think it`s clear enough from your article that Rg Valakut-ramp is a viable deck. You mention Valakut, but nothing more as far as I can tell. Valakut has a positive MU versus Vamps, and so has UW Control. Vampires isn`t the king of Block anymore, people have started to catch up on how good UW is. It`s just a matter of time before others realize that Valakut beats UW, and Vamps get caught in the crossfire. I personally try to perfectionize (is that a word?) UG Landfall, but that`s another story. Spreading Seas will see play in the 75 of UW for sure :)
Beating Valakut will be key in Block, but not for another month. I believe RW Aggro does that, but it`s MU against UW and Vamps isn`t positive. It`s exciting how the Block-format turns out, how it changes (and will continue to change) with such a relativly small card-pool. Wizards did a good job designing it, with it`s pretty obvious "Vamps is good"-first impression.
Perfecting (fine-tuning) UG could be a chore, before World Wake*. UG is one of my personal favorite color combo but it is always a tough sell. Without cards like Opposition, good token generators (well you do get the range with the wolves) and few effective counters the deck will falter against the multiple enchantments that give card/tempo advantage. What UG really needs is a good reset button. (Along the lines of Nev's Disk).
I like how you lay out the metagame a little. You should log in next time and be recognized. :D Maybe even think about expounding on your ideas via an article.
*it is my hope that World wake brings some much needed good blue/green interaction.
Thanks for the comments guys.
I played against tons of Valakut decks and you can see the damage it caused me in my sideboards; Demolish in Mono White!
It is a very good deck but it can be easily hated and that's the reason why I never played it myself. During my first few tournaments I was totally unaware how to deal with it but then figured it out. And leave Valakut out of the play and that deck falls apart; at least that's what I saw from playing against it.
I also tried WU as you can see but I also saw that good players can easily play around it. Vampires.dec has a lot deadly tools at its disposal; if one fails the other surely works.
LE
Vampires will be the dominant deck in ZEN block at least until Worldwake like it or not, which is why I doubt I'll be playing much if any more ZEN block until then. The only deck with a good MU against it is UW control and even then it's only a slightly positive MU until the Vampire player brings in the 4 Mind Sludge from the board although a lot of Vampire decks run 2-3 Mind Sludge main deck already.
The Valakut decks, Rg or mono-R aren't tier 1 at all, they were just built to prey on unprepared UW decks but lose to Vampires and any of the Kor/Mono-Red/RW Aggro decks out there. I saw a prepared UW deck destroy a Valakut deck with Felidar Sovereign and Spreading Seas is tech if that deck ever becomes popular but it won't as it's a niche metagame deck at best. The one time I saw a Valakut deck go 4-0 in a DE without dropping a game I watched some of the replays and the only reason why the deck did so well was because it was matched up against UW decks without any answers all 4 rounds.
I've tried a few rogue decks myself and it was always Vampires that were the toughest matchup unfortunately, and this article clearly illustrates why the deck is as dominant as it is and so frustrating to play against. The Vampire mirror is probably the most frustrating MU of all as there are a lot of blowouts where one player starts out with Lacerator or Quest for the Gravelord turn 1, Hexmage/Bloodghast turn 2, then Gatekeeper turn 3 when the opponent only has 1 creature and the blowout is on. Then the player with creature advantage can Feast of Blood/Disfigure the following creature the opponent plays while the opponent's copies of Feast of Blood are blanked and the game is all but over, and that type of start isn't a rare occurrence at all in the mirror.
But then again, I've read articles in the past saying that single-set block is usually a format where there's one dominant deck, so I don't exactly know why I was expecting otherwise for ZEN block.
great article - i like em all, whether its zbc, core set, or kaleidoscope (RIP). i couldn't help but cringe a couple times reading the article. the reason: your emeria angel kept dying to gatekeeper! that shouldn't be happening very often - it's almost always just better to wait a turn to trigger the token, especially since they have a nice grip in hand and not playing anything - usually means they are sitting on a gatekeeper. the only times i've played a emeria t4 against vamps is: (1) they are on the play and i smell a mind sludge. it's better to put it out there on turn 4 and hope they kill it instead of sludging. of course, if they sludge, an emeria in play is better than one in the gy. (2) i'm going to die really soon and i need a blocker - but if that's what's happening i probably was going to lose anyways.
keep up the good work and see ya in the dailys!
btw thanks for the deck highlight! it served me well when it was it was a zen block release event, but now the formats changed slightly - i think lacerator is a must and my "test out these cards as potential future sb cards" sideboard has been tuned a bit ;)
@Paul
I will probably write an article on UG Landfall, but I`m not confident enough in it just yet. You don`t need a card like Opposition for it to be competitive, but the problem is definetly the inabilety to reset the board when playing against Aggro
@Lord Erman and Anomymous
The problem for UW is Mind Slugde for sure, and the best place to start in dealing with that is 4 Spell Pierce. You have a lot of strong cards against Vamps, that invalidate all their random beaters (Lightcaster, DoJ (arguably not that strong), Angel, both Sphinxes).
As for the Vamps v. Valakut MU, Vamps will have trouble keeping at least 1 Valakut away from hittinh play (due to Map). I they use their third turn Sacramenting for Valakuts, and has made room for Slugdes and Sacrament, it`s aggesive start will likely be very dilluted. Also, Valakut runs Gladeharts and Oracles, which means Vamps probly should also play Disfigure, making it even slower. Lastly, I believe more Rg Valakut decks will start to play Baloth again (in the SB), even if the GG-part is can be awkward. That will give it a second realistic route to victory (and UW isn`t playing DoJ post-board to deal with it).
This is still for the most part in the future though. UW is cathing wind, soon Valakut will too :)
I get how UW can beat Vamps with Mind Sludge (counter) but how does RG Valakut? I guess I just dont understand how it can lose 5+ cards turn 5 and still win when it has no early game cards except getting land into play.
-M
Great article. A kicked Rite of Replication is also nasty when cast on an opponent's Malakir Bloodwitch.
Hi guys and thanks for all the comments. Last week was very frustrating for me as you can also see, but now getting your positive but more importantly constructive criticism is really worth all that pain.
@rainin6: Unfortunately you won't be seeing me in any ZEN event until Worldwake. I had my lesson already. Thanks but no thanks! You may, however, meet me in TP room playing ZEN.
@Anonymous: ALA block was different. During Shards of Alara I won most of my matches in events with my Jund deck and then switched to Naya and continued winning most of my matches with that deck. And there was always Bant there. And after Conflux I switched to Bant and had HUGE success with it. So ALA Block was richer in terms of deck variations. The meta during the first set of ALA Block was Naya or Jund, equally strong, with Bant and Jund/Naya hybrids (called Dark Naya) as splash. But ZEN is just vampires with WU as splash. Sad but true.
Thanks again for all the comments.
LE
very good article and now i feel much better to find out that jund decks are boring aswell. I do believe allies are a secret weapon in this format and even though vampires initially shine the highest, the availability to have a 5/5 or even more bird for 3 on the table is something ppl need to consider. I played allies for a couple of weeks in tribes tourney run by mtgo and won it the first week ( not so lucky the 2nd) and believe with kabira and the life gain they can be unstoppable. A flash allie in the 2nd part? i hope so but if it does i can assure the price rise in all ally cards dramatically. I HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE :)
4/5 good , MENTION ALLIES
I do not agree with you, ... at least not anymore. Vampires are definitely not the best deck in the format, anymore.
They were, they were cause of all the reasons you stated. They still are, since they have answer to everything. But people discovered new decks. They discovered decks that are much better. Decks like WW, all sorts of UW, UWF and such. There are tons of control decks. From basic replication decks, to ally decks, to luminarch a. deck and the most newest and powerful deck (at least I think so), WW - the Kor horde! :)
I can see you really did write this article for long time, since you started vampires were still popular. Now when you go to tournament practice you see vampire deck every 4-6th match. You also didn't mentioned few other decks that are slowly getting better. And you didn't mentioned my favorite deck of all; WW!
I'm gona submit my article similiar to yours in few days, which will show mostly just decks that are most popular in the format and are evolving (and how).
Anyways, lovely article. :)
what are your feelings about playing the Trap over Demolish? your deck may be a bad example as you're squeezing only one mountain into the deck, but i'm tinking w/ Grixis Control (for standard) and can't decide between the two. on the one hand, a turn 4 Demolish is pretty easy, on the other hand, a turn 5 lavaball trap (assuming the right conditions are met) can be cripplying to an emeria or valakut deck. even maindecking lavaball trap no-a-days isn't a terrible idea since it's a double volcanic fallout plus LD. Another good article, keep the deck ideas coming!
@Klemzo: I didn't mention those and maybe some other decks too including Allies,
a) Just because I didn't play them myself and this article was about my personal story in ZEN Daily Events and in 2mans.
and
b) Just because nobody in Daily Events played them against me or even if they did, I must have won easily because I don't even remember them.
Tournamet Practice Room is, as the name says, a room for practicing. There you try some new ideas, some new techs and whatnot. Nobody loses anything there for just trying new things. I don't need to practice vampires; I may just take a list to the tournament and hope for a spot in Top-8. So therefore TP Room may give you a very different idea about the meta. The real meta is what people play in Daily Events. And even though people do play some different decks, at the end of the day six out of eight best decks are ALWAYS vampires.
And finally I'm looking forward to your article. Let's see what those Kor people of yours can do.
@mysticknight232: I never played a tournament level deck in ZEN Block which was deep in Red so therefore I always prefered Demolish just because it can easily be splashed into every deck (together with Burst Lightning I must add). But even if I played a deck that could pay the RR part of a card, I think that my choice wouldn't be Lavaball Trap; I would prefer Goblin Ruinblaster.
And in Standard I wouldn't even play Lavaball Trap at all because you never know whether or not you will get the chance to play the card for its trap cost. In ZEN Block it is for certain. But in Standard, I'm not so sure. And the card's normal casting cost is just horrible.
Thanks for the comments.
LE
Do not think by any chance I wanted to insult you or your article in any way. I just stated what I think, but your article was by far good.
I also didn't express myself right. I didn't just meant "tournament practice" room, I meant against anything I play. And again, Vampires are still popular, they just (luckly) aren't what they used to be :)
Here's a fact:
Conquer's Pledge + Eldrazi Monument = Win
Conquer's Pledge + Armament Master + (easily gained) one or two equips = most likely win
Since I was last online was about a week ago, since I'm having a school project and I really don't have time, but then noone has known WW (kor) deck, and it was owning any control or vampires deck in 2 man tournaments. Dailies and such I didn't yet try and hopefuly when I come back WW deck will still be a "secret", hehe ;)
fair point, but ive beaten alot of vampire decks with allies through protection. im not very good at writing articles so AS A PLEED would any of you more experienced writers please make a report on allies. get back to me if youve got the time to, much appreciated thankyou.
Actually I am probably going to mention your TWC deck a bit in my article this week. (Not sure when it will go up as I have work to do on it yet.)
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