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By: Westane, Jeff Torres
Dec 14 2011 8:09am
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When Three Colors Aren't Enough

garruk relentless

Dear PureMTGO,

The functionality of dual faced cards with the (pic) tag is simply awful. Please fix.

Love,
Jeff

PS: Last night was just fantastic. XOXOXOXOXO

The Deck

4-Color Snapcaster Control
Lands: 26
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Forest
4 Hinterland Harbor
6 Island
4 Mountain
4 Shimmering Grotto
4 Sulfur Falls

Creatures: 5
2 Manor Gargoyle
3 Snapcaster Mage
Other Spells: 29
3 Blasphemous Act
4 Devil's Play
3 Dissipate
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Garruk Relentless
2 Geistflame
4 Silent Departure
4 Think Twice
1 Witchbane Orb
Sideboard: 15
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Dissipate
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Midnight Haunting
2 Naturalize
1 Rolling Temblor
2 Sturmgeist
2 Witchbane Orb

4cc is essentially an off-shoot of UR Burning Vengeance. It took the core, and replaced Burning Vengeance with Garruks and Manor Gargoyles, opting for a more legitimate control strategy, as opposed to leaning on a single combo piece. It supports Geist of Saint Traft in the sideboard for the control mirrors, and has recently adopted Midnight Haunting into its list.

Yes, I blatantly stole this decklist from a recent Premiere Event to use in this DE, but to be perfectly honest I can't fault it on any level. Every card has a place, and the sideboard strategy makes a lot of sense. Don't fix what ain't broke, right?

Round 1 - RW Humans

I really do hate playing against this deck. Regardless, game one goes just about as well as I could hope for. The board is well controlled, and I have access to counters nearly the whole time.

Game two start with what would normally be a fairly good hand, however, it was far too slow against RW. Game three went long but he successfully slow rolled me, and I had to start the event with a loss.

Round 2 - 4cc

Honestly, I've never been very good at the control mirror. I have a tendency to always assume the worst, so in my mind they ALWAYS have the Dissipate or Snapcaster Mage in hand... always.

Game one was his from the start, thanks mostly to getting stuck on lands. There was plenty of back and forth, but ultimately my opponent was able to secure the game. I love the sideboard for the control match up, and I even slip in my single (Rolling Tremblor) just in case he's packing a geist as well. Games two and three are all mine!

It's worth mentioning that I do like Witchbane Orb in this match up, but I couldn't find the room or willpower to bring in both from the side. I'm not even sure if it's correct to bring this in, but I thought it was pretty safe to asume that Naturalize wouldn't be brought in against me, and losing to Devil's Play just kind of sucks.

Round 3 - Dredge

I didn't really know what to make of the Dredge match up, besides knowing that a resolved Gnaw to the Bone or two would probably mean I'd be out of this event. After a lot of effort he's finally able to stick a Kessig Cagebreakers and the wolves are enough to do mean, and in game two my Manor Gargoyle got me all the way there.

In game three I manage to make a complete ass of myself by casting Blasphemous Act AFTER activating my gargoyle. Why would I do such a stupid thing? I was convinced I had a Devil's Play in my yard, and was mortified to find that not to be the case afterword. Luckily, the topdeck of the century moves me into round four.

Round 4 - Dredge

Another Dredge match to end the night, though this goes over just a little smoother. His Ambush Viper almost gets him there game one, but a gargoyle finally puts a stop to any snake shenanigans.

I mull down to four cards in game two, not what I want to see happen. However, the two Islands, a Mountain and a Dissipate were just amusing enough to lift my spirits. He gets a slow start, and I proceed to draw into every card I need for a 3-1 placing!

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun playing this deck, and it gives my high hopes for control decks over the course of block constructed. In fact, it will be very interesting to see if next winter's Standard decks adopt the URx color schemes that are so prominent in ISD Block right now. It's probably too early to tell, but it's fun to think about. And now for the moment you've all been waiting for... Bullet Points!

  •  Manor Gargoyle is a really good control card. Who knew?
  • I think I'm playing against RW Humans wrong. It's my biggest weakness regardless of what deck I'm piloting.
  • I wish I had Sever the Bloodline in the deck, but the mana base is already compromised by default.
  • I just now found out I can smelt cobblestone into stone, and turn that into stone bricks. Now I have to rebuild my entire castle. Damnit!
  • My win ratio would look a hell of a lot better if I stopped playing Minecraft during events...

Until next time!

-Jeff Torres

5 Comments

LOL at Minecraft by apaulogy at Wed, 12/14/2011 - 16:08
apaulogy's picture
5

I really like this archetype. I had the discovery doing ISD drafts that Manor Gargoyle was insane. I am glad someone is putting him to use. So functional.

I wish I had better advice for RW.

Good report and videos, Jeff.

Hey Im a big fan of isd block by vanwilder10 at Wed, 12/14/2011 - 17:02
vanwilder10's picture
5

Hey Im a big fan of isd block also. In match 3 last game at the very end. If you don't get a devils play im pretty sure you can kill splinter fright easily. I believe garruk has 4 counters on him and i can't count exactly but I believe there is 4 creatures in your graveyard, so you can ultimate and attack and he has to block with splinterfright or die, dunno if you saw that but just mentioning.

I really wish I could keep by Westane at Wed, 12/14/2011 - 17:28
Westane's picture

I really wish I could keep posting my videos in HD, but both time and HDD space are in precious quantities these days. I also wish I had bought those 2TB external drives before the flood incident -.-

I think this deck is the best by Lord Erman at Thu, 12/15/2011 - 01:19
Lord Erman's picture
5

I think this deck is the best block deck at the moment. And I also think that the format finished its evolution and is ready for its "Dark Ascension". And definitely +1 to that part about the flip cards' images. That should be changed asap.

Sorry that now you have to build the whole castle again :(.

LE

The conundrum is really good. by twinsiel12 at Fri, 05/02/2014 - 19:59
twinsiel12's picture

The conundrum is really good. It will definitely raise some eyebrows. - Mission Maids