---

Hey everyone, sorry for keeping you waiting! I’ve been managing a weekly podcast schedule, but walkthrough articles have really fallen off the map of late. Now that I finally have one, a ZZW walkthrough may not be the content you are looking for the day before the Rise of the Eldrazi prerelease, but this article has been slowly simmering for a few weeks now, and it's past time for me to serve it up. If you hunger only for Rise of the Eldrazi content, feel free to skip to the end, where I offer up a few thoughts on the upcoming RoE Limited format and point you to some more in-depth resources for your prerelease preparation.

First up, though, is this stroll through a ZZW draft. After digging into my draft histories looking for an interesting one, I thought this 84 fit the bill. It was my 14th ZZW draft, but it contains a couple of firsts for me, which I’ll get to in deckbuilding. First, the draft…

 

 

Deckbuilding

In the intro, I mentioned two firsts for me in this draft. One is drafting a straight green-red deck in any Zendikar-based format. In 50 ZZZ drafts, 5 WWW drafts and 13 ZZW drafts, not once had I gone to battle with a deck whose only basic lands were Forests and Mountains. The other first is related: I’d never run a Lavaball Trap before. I’d never had a deck where it felt like it would work and I happened to draft one. Red-green is the best place for it, with green providing some ramping tools to get to eight mana, and some 5+ toughness bodies to survive the trap.

As for the deckbuilding, there’s not much to it when you end up a little short on playables like I did. The deck basically builds itself, with the hard part usually being what suboptimal bottom-end cards to run. Here’s what I came up with:

Between the Khalni Gem, the Arbor Elf, the Greenweaver Druid and 18 land, I have a lot of mana sources in the deck, but I’m trying to hard-cast an eight-mana sorcery while keeping a Baloth Woodcrasher in the landfall to which it has become accustomed and kicking the hell out of some Gnarlid Packs. With only three other allies, I opted for the maindeck Relic Crush and Canopy Cover over Akoum Battlesinger and the Seismic Shudder. The shudder is a great sideboard option but it’s simply not good against many decks, while there are very few ZZW decks that don’t have targets for the Relic Crush. I don’t love the Canopy Cover, but putting it on a green fatty is a good way to break through a stall, particularly given that I didn’t end up with the Kitesail that I always want in a base-green ZZW deck.

It’s not a great deck—which is too bad because I had high hopes for it heading into pack three—but it’s not a complete disaster either. Let’s see what I can do with it.

R1G1

I lose the roll and assess my opener after Villain keeps.

If my Greenweaver Druid dies, this hand becomes abysmal. If it lives, I’m going to have a hard time losing. That’s a pretty swingy situation, but it’s what I’m asking for with a deck like this.

Villain opens on a Plains and a Blade of the Bloodchief. I draw Geyser Glider to further my reliance on that druid, play a Forest and pass. Turn two sees another Plains and a Fledgling Griffin. I pull yet another Mountain, play it, and pass. Villain’s third land is an Island, and I’m liking my chances of a healthy druid. I’m now more worried about my own health after the griffin drops me to 18 and a Kor Outfitter joins the fray, picking up the blade on the way in.

Burst Lightning off the top doesn’t change my obvious Greenweaver Druid play, but my momentum is immediately stalled by a Kor Hookmaster, who pins down the druid before the pair of bears hit me for 4 (14 – 20). I rip and happily cast Oran-Rief Survivalist before passing back the turn. Villain moves Blade of the Bloodchief and makes the following attack without a pre-combat land drop. What’s your plan?

R1G1 #1

I like Villain’s line here: make me pay dearly to trade by turning the griffin into a 4/4. Burst Lightning bails me out, though, and I torch the griffin before trading the survivalist for the hookmaster. The outfitter makes it through to tag me for 2 (12 – 20), and I get the turn back after no further plays. I draw Tuktuk Grunts and plot the turn. What’s your plan?

R1G1 #2

It can be hard to notice these kinds of details when reading a walkthrough, so congratulations if right now you are asking yourself, “Why did he pass the turn without equipping the Blade of the Bloodchief?” Clearly something is up here, and the most likely suspect is Cancel, but if Villain has Cancel, why did that Burst Lightning make it through? There are a couple of possible reasons. The first is a simple misclick or misplay. I’ve written before about how I have on more than one occasion completely biffed opportunities to cast counterspells in Limited since it is not a strategy I play heavily. Another possibility is that Villain, knowing I’ll be finally untapping my druid, has decided that whatever a green deck can do with 6+ mana is far scarier than losing a Fledgling Griffin to a Burst Lightning.

At any rate, I opt to cast the Geyser Glider, since it is a spell that will do some damage if it resolves, but it’s not bad as Cancel bait, either. Sure enough, Villain has the Cancel, and with that missed land drop, I can also figure those are two active spells in hand as well. Villain misses his land drop again, but manages a Halimar Excavator followed by an Ondu Cleric, milling me for three and gaining 2 life, putting us at 10 – 22 after the Kor Outfitter attack.

I draw a Forest and cast the Baloth Woodcrasher with the coast clear. The question is, do I play out the Forest, or hold onto it?

R1G1 #3

The only reason to play it is if I want the option to cast the Lavaball Trap next turn. The big reason I’d want to is if he’s holding a Sky Ruin Drake and draws a land to cast it. In that case, I’d want to cast the trap before a 5-toughness creature picks up the blade. Holding the Forest may put me a turn farther away from Lavaball Trap, but I’m fine with that—I’d like to cast the Leatherback Baloth next turn anyway. In the game, I play the Forest to set up for possible trap mana, but looking at it now I like saving it for guaranteed woodcrasher landfall slightly more.

Villain plays an Island and equips the Kor Outfitter, but has no other play. Again, suspicious. Either that’s a 6+ drop or an instant for four or less. I rip the Forest to hit Lavaball Trap mana. Time to pop it? Targeting what lands?

R1G1 #4

Sure, let’s pop it. There are a lot of possible holdings I’m facing here, but all of them either counter the spell or are just an annoyance. Refraction Trap would be the worst, allowing his outfitter to survive my trap and become a 5/5 in the process, but even that redirected damage isn’t enough to kill the woodcrasher, so I cast the trap targeting the two Plains. No response besides tapping the Plains for mana, which explained after the trap resolves with Join the Ranks. We both draw nothing but land from there, which obviously favors me, ending the game two turns later.

R1G2

My only sideboard option is the Seismic Shudder, which isn’t good in the matchup. I submit an unchanged deck and head to game two on the draw. Villain keeps, and I find these seven:

A little land heavy, but with a turn-three 4/5 and a turn-four Grazing Gladehart against blue-white, it's an easy keep. My deck is vulnerable to flyers, so the gladehart should be good for 8-14 life in the game, which could make the difference in a race. Villain drops an Island and passes, while I pull a Gnarlid Pack, giving me a potential turn-two play. Khalni Garden produces a plant before I ship the turn back.

Halimar Excavator comes down and mills away a Forest, and I untap with second thoughts about making a Gnarlid Pack in the face of a 1/3, although I do draw Groundswell, so I can make the 2/2 with the intention of eventually trading my Groundswell for the excavators. What do you think?

R1G2 #1

I don't quite think it's worth it. I'll be spending all of turn three on the Leatherback Baloth anyway, so I'd rather just hold off and make a bigger bear. An Ondu Cleric joins the excavator to mill away Adventuring Gear and a Mountain while gaining 2 life (20 – 22). Drawing Greenweaver Druid doesn’t change my plan to get leatherback beats on ASAP. I pass the turn after dropping the 4/5. Villain has a troubling Living Tsunami in response, and the gladehart suddenly feels pretty key.

I draw Geyser Glider and consider my options for beating the flying 4/4 landfall machine.

R1G2 #2

I like casting the gladehart, playing a Forest, and swinging away. I’ll look to go Greenweaver Druid into big Gnarlid Pack from here. I gain 2 from the antelope and deal 4 with the unblocked baloth (22 – 18). The Living Tsunami cracks back for 4 (18 – 18), but Villain has no other play, again putting me on instant alert, with Cancel and Join the Ranks as known possibilities. I pull a Baloth Woodcrasher off the top, drop the Mountain (20 – 18), and bait the possible counterspell with the Greenweaver Druid, but I get no response. My attack with the baloth does, however, as Æther Tradewinds sends it and the Ondu Cleric back to our respective hands. I suppose playing the druid pre-combat was a mistake, since the lack of a response didn’t change my plan to send in the baloth. That’s a setback that should make this race interesting.

The tsunami slams me for 4 (16 – 18), but villain passes without another play. I draw a Forest. How are you approaching this turn with Villain telegraphing an instant by not replaying the cleric?

R1G2 #3

I decide to play a Forest and attack in with the gladehart to start. If the excavator blocks, I’m going to let it go and hopefully set up the belief that I don’t have pump. Instead, there is no block, and the gladehart deals 2 (18 – 16). Post-combat, I decide I’ll sacrifice the Gnarlid Pack to the presumed Cancel. Yes, at eight mana it’s a 5/5 to the leatherback’s 4/5, but if I draw a land, I can cast both the Leatherback Baloth and the Baloth Woodcrasher next turn, which will get me right back in the race. The pack indeed meets Cancel, and I pass.

The tsunami deals 4 and the return of the cleric gains 2 (14 – 18) while milling a couple lands, but Villain has no other plays. I draw a Forest, gain my seventh and eighth life points off the gladehart before bluffing my way in for another 2 (16 – 16). It’s a bluff even though I had the pump, because I never would have used it unless I faced a double block. I drop the Leatherback Baloth and the Baloth Woodcrasher as planned.

Villain has Kor Hookmaster for the woodcrasher to keep things interesting, and I take another 4 from the tsunami (12 – 16). I draw a Forest and again consider how best to win this race.

R1G2 #4

I really want to leave the land in hand until my woodcrasher can attack, but I'd also like the Groundswell to be good for +4/+4. Looking at it now, I would just leave the gladehart back and send in the baloth. Better to have the Groundswell for when I can deal 4 to the face via the trampling woodcrasher. Instead, I send in both the antelope and the beast, and Villain correctly blocks the gladehart with the expendable hookmaster, and I’m forced to save it with the Groundswell or lose the guy that’s keeping me in this race, with the tsunami primed to hit me for the fifth time next turn. I save the life-gain engine and slam for 4 with the baloth (12 – 12).

The tsunami drops me to 8 (8 – 12), and Villain has the gut punch with a Journey to Nowhere on the Baloth Woodcrasher that was supposed to, you know, win me the game and stuff. I pull Lavaball Trap, play the Forest, and swing with the 4/5 and the 2/2, which is finally blocked by the excavator. (10 – 8). I take yet another 4 from the flying wave (6 – 8), and untap. A beautiful Mountain is waiting for me. I play it and gain 2 more from the antelope (8 – 8) before considering any dangers of trying for the Lavaball Trap.

R1G2 #5

Again the open mana looks suspicious, but at this point all five cards in Villain’s grip could be lands and it wouldn’t surprise me. I just have to charge in with it and hope for the best. The scene plays out the same: in response, Villain taps the targeted lands, and before combat, uses the mana on Join the Ranks. If I had known for sure he was on ranks, I would have saved the trap for a blowout with all the ally triggers on the stack. Instead, I have to hold back the baloth because of the four damage incurred and the 1/1s waiting.

A Kor Sanctifiers joins the ally tokens on defense. I draw another Mountain, send in the leatherback for a good old-fashioned chumping by an ally token. Geyser Glider joins the offensive, and I hold back the Mountain to enable flight next turn. Villain has an annoying Lightkeeper of Emeria and only two cards left in hand. So much for the “all land in hand” theory! I draw Oran-Rief Survivalist and plan Villain's demise.

R1G2 #6

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those last two cards have to be lands, right? I think the play is to drop the land and swing for the fences with both guys. For some reason I was a little hasty and clicked through to the attack before playing the land. With the glider grounded, I decided to leave it back instead of offering up the double block by the sanctifiers and the lightkeeper. Annoying mistake, but I’m still looking good as the other ally soldier does his chump duty. I cast the Oran-Rief Survivalist and save the Mountain for next turn.

Villain makes the bold move of attacking with the lightkeeper (6 –8) before playing an Island and tapping out for an Æther Figment. I’m working out the math as I untap, but Burst Lightning on top makes it moot. Drop land, launch glider, hit for 4 (6 – 4), and send kicked lightning to the face to win target match.

What an MVP Grazing Gladehart was, keeping me alive long enough to get the Lavaball Trap online! And I have to say, it was fun to cast Lavaball Trap twice for a devastating effect in this match. Not a bad start for my first-ever green-red Zendikar block draft deck.

R2G1

Replay scouting reveals this partial decklist for my round-two opponent:

Seems pretty marginal past the Kazandu Blademaster and Admonition Angel, but a lot depends on how many of those unknown cards are removal and allies.

I win the roll and check the starter:

A bit on the slow side, but I’m likely to draw into either a turn-three Leatherback Baloth or some early plays, so I keep. Villain opens with a Sejiri Steppe, and I pull Forest number three on my second turn. A Plains leads into a turn-two Kazandu Blademaster, so I’m happy to have the 4/5 at the ready after I draw Greenweaver Druid for my third turn. Villain has a Mountain and no other play, and I find more land, putting me at potential Lavaball Trap mana already if the druid lives. I send in the leatherback (20 –16) and cast the druid.

Another Mountain leads to a Pillarfield Ox, and I take 2 from the blademaster (18 –16). I draw Arbor Elf and hatch plans. What’s the optimal course here?

R2G1 #1

I could get the glider going here, but I’m a turn away from Lavaball Trap mana. Villain is likely to make another creature with four or less toughness (or if it’s Christmas for Godot, two), so I want to set up for a blowout that should be tough to recover from. With no profitable blocks available, the baloth makes it through again for 4 (18 – 12). I play the Mountain and pass, which is a minor mistake: I should play the Forest to better disguise my lavaball mana, assuming my secrets were revealed during replay scouting).

Villain casts a Khalni Gem, followed by Nimbus Wings on the Pillarfield Ox. Hey now! I specifically asked for one or two more creatures under four toughness, not an enchantment that puts one of his men out of Lavaball Trap reach! The blademaster hits for 2 (16 – 12) but the flying ox stays back on defense. I pull another Forest, and have to choose between sitting in a stalemate until it’s an even greater advantage to fire off the Lavaball Trap, or attack in with the leatherback and then wipe the board after the 3/6 ox blocks it, then try to win off the Geyser Glider. What’s your approach?

R2G1 #2

I don’t like giving Villain the first post-lavaball main phase, but I like my chances on the back of the Geyser Glider, so I send in the baloth. The ox blocks as expected, and the trap takes out everything that moves. Villain untaps with a Plains and a Khalni Gem in play, adds a Mountain, and casts Marsh Threader. I pull a Mountain and cast the glider and the elf, holding back both lands to send the glider airborne when it matters.

The Sejiri Steppe makes a return appearance to give the Marsh Threader protection from red, and it attacks into the elf. I chose not to block, and I’m not sure why (14 – 12). At this point, I should like trading my smaller creatures for his bigger ones. If nothing else, it removes a chump blocker should my glider run out of lands while Villain is on the ropes. I pull another land, drop one, and swing for 5 (14 – 7).

Villain has another Mountain, and taps out to cast Murasa Pyromancer, which takes out the mana elf, and I’m kicking myself for not just trading it for the threader when I had the chance. Instead, I take another two from it (12 – 7). Oh well, still two swings away from victory, so hopefully it will be moot. I pull Plated Geopede, play a land and attack (12 – 3). Should I have played the land to ensure evasion, or given Villain the chance to chump with the pyromancer? Really, the only thing that prevents the win at this point is topdecked removal, a five-toughness flyer, or specifically a second Murasa Pyromancer, so I’m fine with going for the throat here. I drop the geopede post combat and pass. Villain untaps, draws, and…

Really?!

That’s seriously harsh. And consider the nasty spot I’ve put myself in after I untap and draw a Mountain by not trading with the Marsh Threader. Now Villain has the threader to chump (although the life totals would be 13 – 4 If I’d traded with the threader). Still, the clear course is to drop a land, charge in for 3, and force the block. Villain still needs to rip some help to win this race.

Marsh Threader chumps as expected, and Villain finds some help in the form of a Kor Firewalker. Again, I think, really?! Just like that, I’m the one that needs to find some answers, as the pyromancers crack back for 6 with the firewalker on defense (3 – 3). I pull a Relic Crush that’s too late. Back on the turn I cast the trap, this would have been a sick, game-changing rip. Instead, I’m dead to the next attack. Did I really just lose that game? How did that happen?

R2G2

I leave my deck unchanged again and head back into battle.

Pretty easy keeper, early action followed by Khalni Gem to bridge to my expensive stuff. I drop a Forest and pass, Villain does the same with a Plains. I pull Adventuring Gear and have the choice between running out the River Boa without regeneration mana available or dropping the gear. What land are we playing, and what spell are we casting? (No screen shot needed, it’s the hand above but with a Forest in play and the Adventuring Gear drawn.)

Normally against a red player in particular I’m going to wait to play the boa with regen mana up if at all possible. In this case, though, I saw 16 cards in scouting plus three new ones in game one, none of which were burn. It’s certainly possible that the last 3-4 unknown cards in the deck are burn spells, but I’m going to make Villain have it, here. If I don’t drop the boa now, I’m really clogging and delaying the rest of my hand both to wait on the boa and then to leave regeneration mana up for it. The correct land to play is the Mountain which I’ll get to in a turn, here. I play a Forest, though, and cast the boa.

Villain has the annoying Kor Firewalker, nullifying my five drop several turns ahead of time. I draw Canopy Cover, which, while underwhelming, at least makes the Tuktuk Grunts potentially useful again. What’s your play for the turn, and do you see why I should have played the Mountain last turn?

R2G2 #1

I can swing with the boa and cast the gladehart, but since I can still cast the antelope before my next land drop and get the life gain, I decide to cast and equip the Adventuring Gear before playing my Mountain. This is why I should have played the Mountain last turn: this play would leave me with a Forest up instead of a Mountain. Hopefully this won’t matter, but I’ll feel awfully silly if Villain goes Mountain into Burst Lightning next turn. The boa hits for 4 (20 – 16) and I pass the turn.

No burn; instead, the Kor Firewalker grows some Nimbus Wings so it can just fly over the fire instead. Four toughness still isn’t enough to block the boa after landfall and live, though, so I’m fine with that. The firewalker hits me for 3 (17 – 16), and I take back the turn. I draw Plated Geopede, but since it now can’t attack through the flying firewalker even with the Canopy Cover, I opt for the gladehart instead after hitting for 2 (17 – 14).

Villain has a second Mountain but no play and no attack, passing it back to me with five cards in hand and four mana up. Nothing in the scouting or game one suggests a play here, but that’s awfully suspicious. I pull and play a Forest, gaining 2 (19 – 14) and making a big snake. I hit for 4 again (19 – 10) and cast the Khalni Gem. I could follow with the geopede, but since all it does is gain Villain a life, I sit on it. Villain repeats with another land, pass turn. I draw Lavaball Trap and grimace at the 3/4 flying Kor Firewalker. Is it worth casting the Canopy Cover or any of the red spells?

R2G2 #2

I decide it’s not. The firewalker has blanked my entire hand at this point, but maybe the boa can go the distance. I drop the Mountain (21 – 10) and swing in again, when Villain decides to blow his Join the Ranks for some chumps. Turns out Join the Ranks was a reason to play the Canopy Cover after all, and if I’d seen the ranks in the replays or passed any in the draft I might have found my way to that play, but I really didn’t think about it before this attack. A soldier ally takes one for the other team, and I go ahead and cast the Canopy Cover on the boa after the fact before passing the turn.

Villain attacks with the firewalker (18 – 10), then casts Makindi Shieldmate and plays a sixth land after combat. Apparently it’s not yet time for the firewalker to start chumping. What is up the sleeve, here? Hmmm. I draw into Baloth Woodcrasher, a welcome sight given all the virtually dead cards clogging my hand. I play the Forest and connect for another 4 (20 – 6) before dropping the baloth and passing.

Unfortunately, Villain has the Admonition Angel and the land to trigger it, and my woodcrasher goes into exile before I take 3 from the firewalker (17 –6). I draw a Mountain, and look for a way out of this mess. Thoughts?

R2G2 #3

The land gives me some hope of a Lavaball Trap bailout next turn, but even if I make it to eight mana, I’ll need Villain to block the boa with the angel for the sweeper to matter. That could happen if there are no more lands coming for the angel, but another land means I’ll lose my Canopy Cover, and after that, the ground chumps will block before the angel ever does. Because Villain is close to nullifying the boa, though, I may be able to get the snake in there one more time, assuming Villain plays around an Inferno Trap or Magma Rift I don’t actually have. If that works, then I have a couple turns after that to draw Burst Lightning or Blazing Torch to win it.

Slim chance, but feels like the only one I’ve got, so I play the Mountain, gain 2 life, and charge into the red zone. There are no blocks, and the life totals sit at 19 – 2. Amazing how you can be ahead 19 –2 in a Magic game but be quite the long shot to actually win. Strategically, Villain’s no-block is pretty reckless. Yes, it saves the angel (and ergo the game) against the aforementioned creature-only burn spells, but it is an insta-lose against Groundswell, Vines of Vastwood, Primal Bellow, Searing Blaze, Burst Lightning, Punishing Fire, and Blazing Torch (there may be others, but that’s what comes to mind). Given that I have a “free” attack because of the regeneration, and there are more common and uncommon cards that punish not blocking instead of blocking, the correct play there has to be to block.

Villain untaps and has the land drop to exile Canopy Cover, leaving me unlikely to connect with creatures again for the rest of this game. Nothing to do now but turtle up and squeeze as many pulls to my two outs as I can out of this game before succumbing to the angel. I take 3 from the firewalker (16 – 2), and a post-combat Marsh Threader adds to the threats. The Hedron Rover I draw is no help, and land drop #9 from Villain takes out the boa. The attack brings me to 5, and I untap for my last pull.

“One time, Grog!”

“Yaussssssss!”

 

One more game for a trip to the finals!

At this point I called an audible, and switched to a GW built I put together on the fly during sideboarding. It looked something like this:

The only other options in white are the two Guardian Zendikon and the unplayable Quest for the Holy Relic. I may have run a guardian over the Kor Outfitter, but really, as you can see, I shouldn’t have switched to the white build it all, it’s just not worth it.

I made the switch due to results-oriented thinking (ROT), or as we like to say around the poker table, "I was being rotty." The Kor Firewalker came out both games and was a real headache for me, rendering many of my cards effectively dead. That one card appearing in both games caused me to make the color switch. Now, if it's a 100% certainty that the firewalker will hit the board early in game three, then switching to green-white is appropriate. It is such a clearly weaker build, though, that without that certainty, I should just stick to the superior green-red build and hope Villain doesn't draw the firewalker, or at least doesn't draw it early.

These decisions are harder to make in your two-minute sideboarding window than they are when recapping a draft in a walkthrough, though, and green-white is the decision I made. To battle!

R2G3

Back on the draw, I check out the seven for my hastily-revamped deck after Villain keeps:

Check out that ugly Plains! I’m truly sorry you had to see that; being rotty didn’t just hurt me, it hurt us all.

The lack of a two drop is concerning, but the solid plays for turns three and four make this a keeper. That particular problem is solved off the top by an Oran-Rief Survivalist, and is strengthened when Villain fails to have a two drop of his own. I pull Gnarlid Pack, but that’s looking more like a four- or six-drop at this point, and the survivalist comes down. When Villain fails to produce a play on turn three either, I begin to like my chances. I pull Relic Crush on turn three, hit for 2, and cast the unkicked Apex Hawks (20 – 18).

Villain’s first action is a turn-four Pillarfield Ox, which is good enough to stop the survivalist, but not good enough to have me worried. I draw a Plains and make the obvious Hedron Rover play after the hawks get through for another 2 (20 – 16). Villain has a Sejiri Steppe followed by the pesky Nimbus Wings on the ox, making a 3/6 flyer to threaten my offense. I draw a Forest, play a land, and plan my course of action. I know I’m going to attack with the Hedron Rover, but am I bluffing with any of the others? What are my plans for the various blocking possibilities?

R2G3 #1

If I attack with the rover and it's blocked by the ox, I can use the Relic Crush here for a 2:1. Waiting for a 3:1 is tempting, but I should really take the 2:1 if it presents itself. If I draw two lands in a row, I can go crush –> 4/4 Gnarlid Pack –> kicked Bold Defense, which seems like a hard sequence to stop. I could also run a big bluff and charge in with everything, which would telegraph Vines of Vastwood or Groundswell. That’s a bolder move than I’m willing to make, simply because Villain might deem it necessary to trigger my telegraphed trick anyway. The best bluffs are the ones where it’s quite clear that your opponent wouldn’t want to trade the blocker for your presumed trick.

I just send in the rover, and Villain opts not to block, which surprised me. Given that I would attack with everything if I had pump, Villain either has something up the sleeve, has me squarely on enchantment removal, Primal Bellow, or Blazing Torch, or else Villain doesn’t have me on anything and just isn’t thinking things through. Either way, I hit for 4 (20 –12) and opt for no play in the second main. I could make a 3/3 Gnarlid Pack, but at 4/4 it gets through the post-relic 2/4 ox, so it seems best to wait.

Villain makes things interesting with a sixth land and a Murasa Pyromancer. It can’t kill anything now, but one more ally and things start looking uglier for me. I’m not going to put in a screen capture here, but do you 1:1 the Relic Crush for the Nimbus Wings before taking the turn back? I decide no, that I’d rather take another shot at it in combat, although if Villain has another ally, it’s unlikely that my rover will see a block next attack.

I take back the turn and draw Leatherback Baloth, which adds to my options. It starts with a Forest and an attack, though, and as expected, my rover goes unblocked for another 4 (20 – 8). What’s the plan in the second main?

R2G3 #2

The leatherback was a nice draw, it allows me to play out an even better body than a twice-kicked Gnarlid Pack, yet still leave mana up for Bold Defense if I decide to save something from the second ally almost surely to come. I play out the 4/5 and pass. Sure enough, Stonework Puma hits the board for the other team and puts me on the spot: am I saving my rover with the Bold Defense?

R2G3 #3

This is pretty tough. I'd like to have my rover for another turn, but there's no guarantee I draw a land to make it a real threat, and if I do draw a land, I like the longer-term game plan of using Relic Crush on the puma and the Nimbus Wings next attack phase, casting a 2/2 Gnarlid Pack, and then swinging with everything and kicking the Bold Defense on the attack after that. If that’s the last of the allies, it’s a nice plan. If not, I could still have some work to do. So, I let the Hedron Rover die despite having the mana and the spell to save it. Villain plays another land, and passes.

I draw a less-than-useful Adventuring Gear, and prepare for what I hope will be a soul-crushing 3:1 after Villain finally blocks with the ox, which I assume has to happen this time. One problem card here is Join the Ranks. If I’m up against that, is there anything I can do to lessen the devastation? Can I play around it?

R2G3 #4

If attack with the leatherback but hold back and use the Relic Crush in response to a ranks, I reduce the triggers from 4 damage twice to 3 damage twice. Assuming the ox blocks the leatherback, that doesn’t actually change the death toll at all, so it’s not really a good play-around. I could decide not to use the Relic Crush at all this turn, and save Bold Defense as a response to 4 damage twice going on the stack. Again though, giving all my creatures +1/+1 doesn’t change the death toll, so it is also not a good play-around. Since I have no way to effectively play around Join the Ranks, I decide to play as though he doesn’t have it, then try to rebuild if he does. I charge in with the 4/5, the ox finally steps in to block, I cast Relic Crush, and there is certainly some soul-crushing that happens from there…

R2G3 #5 – Oh, the Humanity!

When the dust settles, I have an Oran-Rief Survivalist, and Villain has Murasa Pyromancer, two soldier ally tokens, and a single card in hand. That’s a bummer of a result, but it was a ultimately a situation I felt I had to walk into. Time to work on the recovery part. That effort is immediately hampered by—you guessed it—Murasa Pyromancer #2, which polishes off my last remaining creature, clearing the way for an attack for 5 in the process (15 – 8).

I draw a second copy of a creature myself in a Gnarlid Pack. How are you playing this turn to maximize the chance of taking back this game: A 3/3 and a 2/2, or one 4/4?

R2G3 #6

If Villain has another ally I’m in trouble no matter what, so I’ll play like one isn’t coming. If no allies are coming, two 4/4s backed by Bold Defense and buffed by Adventuring Gear should make it through the chumps pretty quickly, so that’s my play: tap out for a single 4/4 and pass. Villain untaps and wastes no time in casting Tuktuk Grunts. What a savage turnaround! My 4/4 is burned to a crisp, and 11 points of power charge unchallenged into the red zone (4 – 8). I have no outs left in my deck, although I draw anyway to make sure, and the Steppe Lynx I find looks at me and shrugs. The match is over, leaving me with one burning question that I can’t help but ask.

In the battle of mediocre decks that managed to make the semis, the final score was 1 "OMG I can't believe you pulled that one out" to 2, and I was on the wrong side of it—so it goes. The effectiveness of the Murasa Pyromancers, while somewhat lucky on Villain’s part to draw multiples, is worth noting. I had high hopes for the pyromancers as ally finishers when Zendikar first released, but then the format proved so fast that they didn’t do enough in time. With Worldwake, things have slowed down enough that my initial prediction for Murasa Pyromancer is now a lot closer to the truth:

Murasa Pyromancer: The counterpoint to Hagra Diabolist that looks like it could take over a game if its controller plays allies in front of and behind it. The high casting cost has me concerned about the ability to have any gas left in the ally tank when he finally hits without sandbagging allies in a way that leaves you vulnerable to early aggression. Still, if you can string together a couple allies in a row after he lands, you ought to win the game. It just concerns me that these expensive uncommon allies we're trying to ramp up to and take over with die to common, one-mana black and red removal spells.

Sure enough, stringing together a couple allies in a row after the murasa won my opponent some games in this draft. I’m still not going to take them highly or anything, but clearly they deserve a little more respect than I’d given them in triple-Zendikar.

The Eldrazi Are Coming!

My master plan was to finish this article up about a week ago, then write a Rise of the Eldrazi prerelease primer just ahead of the paper prerelease this weekend. That plan was dashed cruelly on the jagged rocks of Life, but over at Limited Resources, Marshall and I have spent the last several podcasts going in depth into Rise of the Eldrazi. Episodes #29 and #30 cover our impressions of every common and uncommon in the set, so check those out for some thorough prerelease prep.

If you don’t have several hours to spare for podcast-listening, here are some initial impressions: in sealed, look for green-red Eldrazi spawn ramp tools like Emrakul’s Hatcher and Kozilek’s Predator, and bust out huge monstrosities as soon as you can. In draft, that also seems like a good archetype, but I'm really fascinated by the tools available for a blue-white leveler deck. Time of Heroes + Venerated Teacher + Every Leveler You Can Grab = Seems Good! I think this will prove to be a powerful archetype in Rise of the Eldrazi drafting.

A more standard blue-white skies deck also seems totally doable. While the flyers aren't quite as aggressive as we've seen in other sets, the ground-clogging tools are rampant and excellent. Green has the usual suite of anti-flying tools, but the only reach creature is the 1/5 Sporecap Spider, so you can send a fleet of flyers with two or more toughness at it without suffering any losses. Watch out for Gravity Well, though, which is a silver bullet against UW Skies. Grab some enchantment hate just in case.

There didn’t end up being as many great defenders in the set as I’d expected based on early “defender matters” indications, but I still think there is a possible Vent Sentinel deck to be drafted. It would probably be red-white, as white has some solid defenders in Wall of Omens and Soulbound Guardians, and the Stalwart Shield-Bearers which is pretty much only good in a heavy-defenders deck. I’m not looking to force this archetype or anything, but if I’ve taken a few good red removal spells up front and then get a Vent Sentinels in the middle of pack one, I’ll probably take it and give it a shot.

Black seems relatively weak on my first pass through the set, but such early assessments are notoriously shaky, so we’ll see if I feel that way a couple months from now. The removal seems below average for what we might expect from black, and the spawn-token generation is worse overall than what red and green bring to the table. I will note that is has a devastating anti-spawn card in Shrivel, which should prove important to black decks looking to keep Eldrazi off the opponent’s side of the table.

My final thought for this and any brand-new Limited environment is to look where Wizards of the Coast is pointing and try that first. They clearly intend for us to cast giant creatures through spawn-token ramping and level the heck out of our creatures, so that is going to be my initial mindset when approaching Rise of the Eldrazi Limited. Finding successful rogue strategies that weren’t obvious at first is great, but I like starting down the path the Magic designers and developers have clearly paved for us, because it is usually a sure thing. Whatever a given set cares about is always something the game’s creators set up for success in Limited, because they want us to care about it as well.

My son Oliver and I will be heading down to the Seattle Center on Saturday for the morning Two-Headed Giant event at the Rise of the Eldrazi prerelease. If you are attending as well, stop by and say hi! If you are playing in the 9:45 2HG, stop by and say hi before meeting your doom.

---

Article Archive / Limited Resources Podcast / Follow Godot on Twitter / RSS