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By: TheBizzar, Micah Kilian
Mar 05 2012 2:06pm
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Background Story

So a few weeks ago I posted an article named, "Have a Heartless Summoning Valentine Day." In the article I made note of how the Heartless Summoning deck can be shifted away from the UB list we saw performing well in PT HI. This allows the creature base to move away from artifacts and into more value added bombs. Two such bombs are Bloodline Keeper and Bloodgift Demon. 

Testing Online Makes a Difference

I was able to play the list a ton online and get a real feel for how it plays out in the PT room. The testing served me well but some changes to the deck did come along. As I played the list more and more I realized that Heartless Summoning could be traded out for Sphere of the Sun. So after getting 9th place at my local store on Magic Game Day, I made a few changes:

Just in case you don't remember the original list here is BW Heartless as posted 2/14/12: 

Change is Here
Since the only games I lost in the MGD event were when tokens cluttered the battlefield I decided to take out the Steel Hellkite for Massacre Wurm. In addition, I moved 3 Ratchet Bomb in the main deck. Next, I moved 2 Day of Judgment in the main deck.  This gave the maindeck list 7 ways to sweep the battlefield clear of the clutter while also allowing some ways to take out random non-creature threats with the Ratchet Bombs. Not to mention(but I will=)) it also solved all the problems with opponents using hexproof creatures.

Next I wanted to change up some of the creature base. I felt that Solemn Simulacrum would make a wonderful replacement for the Phyrexian Rager. I was correct. Since I was taking out the Heartless Summoning, the deck really needed more ways to put out mana to get to the 6 drops. This guy was working well with Heartless Summoning, but was even better now that the deck was using Sphere of the Suns in the 2 slot. Plus, he still results in a card draw later in the game.

As part of the original deck that was played in paper the addition of Bloodline Keeper had to make its way in the list. He was very good with Heartless. It allowed me to play a hand that was only 2 mana more often. The same held true with the new Sphere of the Suns build.

Wurm Dirt
 
Creatures
4 Palladium Myr
2 Razor Hippogriff
3 Bloodline Keeper
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Massacre Wurm
4 Bloodgift Demon
4 Solemn Simulacrum
22 cards

Other Spells
4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Doom Blade
3 Ratchet Bomb
4 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

11 cards
Lands
4 Isolated Chapel
7 Swamp
2 Buried Ruin
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Vault of the Archangel
21 cards

Bloodgift Demon

 The card counts look funny but I checked and it is adding up to 60 cards by my calculations.

The Ends and Outs

The biggest thing to look at with this deck is the land count. It is running 2 more lands than most of the Delver lists you can find. In addition to that it has 8 ways to thin the lands out of the deck. What this ends up meaning is late game you are drawing very solid. Bloodgift Demon really shines because of this. The land is able to be this low because of the 12 other mana related cards in the deck (Sphere of the Suns, Solemn Simulacrum and Palladium Myr). 

At the last minute I had a play set of Sorin, Lord of Innistrad drop into my hand. The made me rethink some of the card counts and look very closely at all the cards in the 4 drop slot. So to smooth out the curve I dropped out a Wurmcoil Engine, a Bloodline Keeper and the 2 Day of Judgment I just added in the main deck. So now my count was down to 5 sweepers. I didn't like it but I was really wanting to feel out Sorin in the list. I was glad I did. 

These changes resulted in the above deck named Wurm Dirt. There was one exception to the list when I played it this past FNM. I did not have Nihil Spellbomb and it cost me in match one

The FNM Run Through

Match 1 was against a 4 color deck that has seen some excellent outcomes in the PT circuit. It was full of ways to dump cards in the grave yard. In this case these cards were Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Rune-Scarred Demon. If you guessed my opponent was also playing Unburial Rites you are correct! Game 1 I suffered a dramatic beating to a T3 Norn and T4 Rune-Scarred. After that I was done for. In game 2 I knew I was in trouble as I looked at a SB that really had no way of dealing with grave yard based strategies. So I took my beating and hoped for a 3-1

Match 2 was the complete opposite. My opponent was playing what looked like a agro infect deck. Massacre Wurm just ate them up. You might ask how I was able to live long enough to get to the wurm...Solemn Simulacrum. I would drop him in T3 to pull up land and make a chump block. Then, Drop a land in play T4 for the Massacre Wurm. Game 2 was even more in my favor with the addition of the Day of Judgment out of the side board.

Match 3 was probably the only game of the night where I was facing a real top tier deck. I sat down and watched as Wolf-run was showing itself in the field of play. Game 1 I was beat pretty fast. Titan was in play turn 4 and I was done by turn 6. For Game 2 I decided that the Massacre Wurm was just not going to cut it. I also sided out Palladium Myr  for fear it would just die out there. For the first time of the night I actually saw my Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. He came out on my turn 3 and popped out a token. Sorin was quickly killed with a Beast Within at my next upkeep. So, I dropped a second Sorin, made a token, attacked for 4 and dropped a land. I finished my 4th turn with a Bloodline Keeper. Again the 2nd Sorin was killed with a Beast Within at my next upkeep. Though I was upset that my opponent had answers to my Sorins I was not unhappy that he was now at only 11 life (after my attack) and I was now at 6 mana. Wurmcoil Engine came out to join my squad and the game was over shortly thereafter. Game 3 was a back and forth battle of attrition. My opponent was flooded with mana from a hand full of ramp spells while I was dropping in Bloodline Keepers and Bloodgift Demons from turn 3 on. Finally at one point I noticed my opponent was at 2 cards in hand while I was still holding a full grip of 7 cards. He drops in a  Karn Liberated and forces me to exile a Bloodgift. I was able to put the Karn threat at bay with an Oblivion Ring. At the end of his next turn he plays 2 more Rampant Growth and a Solemn Simulacrum showing he had no cards in hand. It was at this point I really knew I had come over the top of this match.

 

Match 4 would have been the final round of the local shops FNM. we only had 21 players so it was not that big of a field. Anyway, my last round opponent was a no show. Fine with me as it netted my 5 booster packs for the night.

Final Thoughts

In this past weeks FNM I was able to walk away knowing my personal take on BW was able to stand up to Wolf-run. If I had just had the Nihil  Spellbomb in my sideboard I might have been able to pull of a 4-0 but that is life. Sometimes you just don't have the all the cards so you have to make due.  Once I am able to get my hands on a set of Sorin online I will continue testing this list by playing a few Daily Events. That will give an even better view on the decks performance.

Anyway, I hope you all get a chance to play around more with this BW list as it has started to show a little more promise as always feel free to test it and suggest changes to the list.

Happy Gaming,

TheBizzar