Undiscovered Paradise [Tricks of the Trade]

For those of you who are looking for Wold Championship Coverage (Rome 09) - You can check out the coverage at Mana Nation and the Official WotC Page. It was Limited today, so there was virtually nothing to report besides the new disqualifications. You can read about that in the two links above. 

Today, I want to give you a heads up on a little gem that you can probably still pick-up cheap at stores (who are slow to updated their inventory) and from kids who usually have old junk in their binder; Undiscovered Paradise.

Undiscovered Paradise is seeing play in the Bloodghast version of Legacy Dredge. Many people in the Legacy community do not respect the deck but it did get third at the SCG 5K in Philadelphia and the cards is selling pretty hot at the moment. SCG is out at $7.99 and they are moving at $15 on ebay. You could pick these up at $3-$5 before the surge and if you act quick you may still be able to do so. My advice is to get them at $3-$5 (buy them if you cant trade) and then immediately sell them at $12-$15 on MOTL or Ebay.

Have Fun Tonight and Score Some Loot!


JM

Worlds Rome, Day One [News]

For those of you who don’t know the Magic World Championships are happening right now in Rome. Here are the highlights for those of those who have not been watching the coverage.

The Metagame
It looks like Jund is still prominent, it’s got some big name representation in the way of Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Luis Scott-Vargas, and Tomoharu Saito. On the other hand Bant has some top name representation as well; Manuel Bucher and Antoine Ruel are rocking Bant decks.

Jund 35%
Boros Bushwhacker  15%
Junk  9%
Bant  8%
Eldrazi Green 8%
Other Stuff 25%

Who Cares - Right? After all, it’s no surprise that most people are playing a “known” deck- It’s hard not to when the World Championship is on-the-line. Unless you are my man Conley Woods who went 5-1 with this rouge concoction:

Magical Christmas Land
This deck exploits weak manabases by ramping-out cards like Acidic Slime and Mold Shambler (these also dispense with troublesome Enchantments, Artifacts and Planeswalkers) and then finishes the opponent with Rampaging Baloth tokens of Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.

Dudes
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Acidic Slime
4 Mold Shambler
4 Rampaging Baloth
2 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

Spells
4 Harrow
3 Terminate
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Violent Ultimatum

Lands
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Mountain
4 Forest
3 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Terminate
4 Jund Charm
3 Caldera Hellion
2 Island
1 Swamp

This deck is showcases Wood’s ability to innovate and build competitive decks that break the rules. The deck also makes us believe in the power of Lotus Cobra- which is still plummeting in price but may stabilize after the dust settles.

The Goods [Mini –Financial Advice]
Speaking of money cards, here is a list of cards you might want to pick up at FNM (I probably won’t be able to, since a handful of dudes at my FNM read this Blog- Punks!)

Emeria Angel – This card is seeing play in Bant decks that are posting strong results. This has a lot of potential to be a standard staple. Pick as many of these up as you can.

Aven Mimeomancer – This was being used to make Banslayer Angels into pigeons and tokens into beat-sticks. It’s a bulk rare at the moment but may see some play. I would suggest getting at least a playset.

Lotus Cobra – He is getting a lot of love this weekend, If you haven’t gotten out of Cobraville it may not be a bad idea to kick off your shoes and stay a while. He def wont climb in price but this may slow the bleeding.

Master of the Wild Hunt – This guy is slipping into Jund decks now and is already 14 tickets on MTGO. Not to mention that the MTG community is collectively realizing his playability in this meta.  Pick these up if you can, last week they were still trading at between 3 and 5 dollars.

Gindy gets the Axe
The drama and excitement of Worlds 09 spilled off the top tables and into the Judges box, when Charles Gindy PT Hollywood champion and US Team contender was disqualified. His disqualification has lead to the DQ of the whole US Team from the Team event. The short story is that Gindy used MotWH’s ability to kill an opponent’s creature but did not inform the opponent of the need to deal damage back to the wolf tokens until after the game.

This judgment comes after the controversial “Missed Trigger” at Pro Tour Austin. A pivotal Angel of Despair trigger was missed and it resulted in a favorable outcome for Brian Kibler. It was never confirmed that Brian noticed the trigger at the time but some have suggested that he did. I don’t have a opinion on whether he did or didn’t (notice the trigger), but I think the DCI is “cracking down”. I the DCI is making an example out of Gindy and sending the message that this will not be tolerated.

Interview With Todd Anderson (The Starking Post)
Mana Nation News Page on the Topic
Official Story from WotC

That’s all for today. Maybe I will post something tomorrow- if there is anything to talk about.  Thanks for reading.

JM

The Beginning [Tricks of the Trade]

If you are looking to make money through trading cards and fuel your habit then you are in the right place. Before we jump into values, theories and resources – let’s start at the beginning.

My journey into magic is a bit awkward. Magic has always been somewhat of a conflict for me. With so many important things in life, the question always stirs beneath the surface, “Why does Magic deserve my time and energy?”   I think deep down everyone wants to answer this question in some way. Being a man of principle (or at least thinking myself one) I would like to say that every moment of my life is spent bettering the world in some way – but I can’t say that for Magic.  I have to accept that at the moment magic is purely for leisure and has no value outside of self-fulfillment. If I can't "better the world" with Magic, the least I can do is to keep magic from crushing my wallet; I get extra points if I can treat my wife to dinner or buy necessities with profits originating from my binder.

Three Packs A Day
I started playing magic with the release of Future Sight. Unlike many of you, my magic career only spans a short two years. Anyone who is familiar with my collection is surely asking, “How the heck did this guy amass so many cards in such a short period of time?” The answer is simple; I am an easily addicted over-achiever. When I do something, I focus 110% of my energy into it and push. The next question might be, "How will you amass so many cards, if you are not some freaky over achiever like me?" That answer is also simple; I will teach you what I've learned through my adventures, if you stay tuned.

Naturally I began my plight like everyone else; buying booster packs. It took three boosters packs a day curb my appetite. My wife was getting worried- I was spending hours weeding through card boxes for commons and uncommon and hundreds of dollars on booster packs. Thankfully at the time I was running a graphic design business in addition to working my day job, which helped pay for my habit. I knew I couldn’t go on spending so much money on Magic.  I was sure that there was a better way but until I knew what it was, I  continued in the same pattern.

Tired of Losing
My store didn’t have FNM. We played every Thursday night and two weeks out of the month were Legacy tournaments.  I couldn’t win a game to save my life. These guys had all been playing a lot longer than I had, their decks were better and their collections dwarfed mine. I was sick of losing and I was ready to do something about it, but there was a slight problem – I had very little money to work with. I made an agreement with my wife, "I would only spend X dollars on Magic per week" , I don’t remember what the amount was but I remember it was small- maybe ten dollars per week. I liked being married (and still do) so I planned on keeping my promise. All I had was my binder, which should have been jam-packed after buying three packs a day for months –right?  WRONG!

Taking Inventory
I was the new kid on the block, part of the initiation ceremony was that the good player got to pillage my binder and give me crap cards in return. The binder in it's current stat would not be much help, but I did have decks. I had two decks for Standard, on for Extended, and one for Legacy (kinda). I knew that these decks would be my trade fodder to get what I wanted, but first I needed to find out what I wanted.

Threshold or Bust
The goal was to win in Legacy. I searched the internet for the "best" Legacy deck. I found a list for Threshold and printed it out. I went through my binder looking for card that went in the Threshold deck and put those cards aside; I think I had one Tarmogoyf and a couple of Brainstorms. I searched the common boxes to find Werebear, Portent and other miscellaneous cards. The deck was filling out but I needed some of the big ticket items. It was time to put my decks to work.

Force of Will - Let’s Get Serious
Luckily one of my friends had two Force of Wills for trade. I traded him my whole Relentless Rats deck  (complete with 22 Rats and 4 Thrumming Stone) for both Force of Wills. I would do that trade in a heartbeat now, but then it was tough, stores were selling rats for 2-3 dollars and it was my pet deck. This trade brings up an important point. You need to check your emotional attachment at the door. Being emotionally attached causes you to overvalue your cards and makes trading difficult, which stifles your ability to meet your goal and limits your opportunities for a "good" trade.

Once the rat deck was gone I broke down all my decks and put all the rares and good uncommons in my binder. I built mono-red burn for all formats, twenty mountains and forty common and uncommons. I ran this deck because it was cheap and it didn’t take from my “inventory”.

This is My Binder, There Are Many Like it but This One is Mine
As I won tournaments (yeah -mono red can “get there”), I opened my winnings (booster packs) and stuck the relevant cards in my binder. I started checking prices for the cards in my binder and the cards that I wanted.  Trading became a must at every tournament; I traded with everyone I could. My focus remained steadfast, I was looking for Threshold cards or cards that I could trade for Threshold cards. I familiarized myself with the “Hot” cards at the time and traded for those as I could, I knew that these would be fodder for some of the bigger items. My binder started to look pretty good.

[Story Break]  Next time we will talk about my visit to a new store and my acquisition of Force of Will number three. Before I get out of here, let’s flesh out the first three steps to going infinite and make them relevant to you as the aspiring master-trader-card-dealer-extraordinaire.

Make a Goal
When I started playing magic I wanted to play every deck. I would keep cards in-case I ever wanted to build “X" Deck.  This is where making a goal helps. It will force you to purge the “unnecessary cards” and give you something to work with. A goal should be specific. Being specific helps you examine important things about yourself that will help you in the future. Without expanding on each topic now, here are some questions you should ask yourself.

What is my style of play?
Why do I play Magic?
Which formats do I enjoy most?
What is my Psychographic Profile? (See Here and Here)

We will expand on these questions and why they are important later. Let’s talk about purging.

Purge
This is a hard one for some people, but it has to be done. Remember my Rats deck? If you don't, then there is something wrong with your brain- you just read about it three paragraphs ago. Search your entire card collection and take every rare and HOT common/ uncommon that you are not playing in a deck and put them in a binder.  This is your equity, your product and your path to going infinite.

Don't fret, this is also only temporary. After the money starts coming in, you can afford to stash a playset of hot cards for yourself. There will be room for that later but to start you'll need all the resources that you can get.

Build
We will talk alot about building in this “column” (or whatever you want to call it). For now the key point is this, know the price of your cards. Check the prices on Find Magic Cards and on Star City Games. Make trading a necessary part of your tournament experience. This will give you opportunities to build. I can write pages on this section, and eventually I will- but for now I will leave you with one nugget to think about. Know your card prices well, but when trading let the other guy value your cards.

Thanks for reading.

JM

The Stupidest Deck Ever [Standard]

I sleeved this up while waiting to make a trade on Friday.  I played it for fun against some unsuspecting opponents and I was surprised at how well it performed! I had some trouble with the mono white deck that I played, but that was before I added Earthquake. I also added Nicol Bolas, the Planeswalker. He seems like a fine way to ride into Victory. I am not sure about Jar Jar Sphinx in the deck, but I know I need a treat in its spot.  Anyways here is the cheapest deck in standard Enjoy!

Dudes
3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4 Goblin Ruinblaster

Spells
4 Spreading Seas
4 Convincing Mirage
4 Grixis Charm
4 Resounding Wave
4 Demolish
3 Earthqake
3 Nicol Bolas Planeswalker
2 Mindlock Orb
1 Lavaball Trap

Lands
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Jwar Isle Refuge
4 Akoum Refuge
6 Islands
5 Mountains
1 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Earthquake
2 Mindlock Orb
2 Lavaball Trap
4 Anathemancer 
4 Pithing Needle
2 Pyromancer’s Ascension <--- Ha ha ha, Get it .. Kill two lands with one spell!

Don’t knock it till you try it. Peace.

JM

Dark Naya [Standard]

Hello out there in the magic blogosphere! I would rather be at the SCG 5k smashing face right now, but instead I am hitting the book to secure my future as a BAMF. Over the last couple of weeks I've written quite a bit about magic, I just haven't had the time to clean it up and post it. I will be doing that in the weeks to come, until then here is my new standard deck, I won a box with it at the Erlanger PTQ side event:

Creatures
4 Bloodghast
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Baneslayer Angel
2 Enlisted Wurm

Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
3 Behemoth Sledge
3 Bituminous Blast
2 Ajani Vengeant

Lands
4 Arid Mesa
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Savage Lands
3 Jungle Shrine
3 Plains
4 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Sideboard
4 Captured Sunlight
3 Identity Crisis
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Resounding Thunder

This deck has the card advantage of Jund but is packing the power of white. Let’s talk about the card choices.

Bloodghast- Upon first glance this card seems out of place, but it actually does quite a bit for the deck. For starters he makes running three Behomoth Sledge less of a “liability”. The Bloodghast makes discard like Blightning, Mind Sludge and Cruel Ultimatium less powerful against you; it protects your Banelslayer Angel from Gatekeeper of Malakair; and it also functions as a burn spell when your opponent is below 10.

Knight of the Reliquary – The other option for this slot is Woolly Thoctar. The Knight does a lot of things that Thoctar does not. KotR has the ablity to fix your mana or ramp stuff out a turn earlier. KotR is easier to cast and gets bigger than Thoctar.

Great Sable Stag – This was originally Wild Nacatl but without Ranger of Eos, it just doesn’t make sense to have a one-drop in this deck. Cutting the Nacatl also allowed me to go down to one mountain and run more tri-lands. The stag is just better against Jund and control.

Bloodbraid Elf- One of the best creatures in standard at the moment. If you cant beat em. Join em.

Baneslayer Angel – I think that this deck supports BSA quite well. KotR is a must kill and usually they have to use the BSA designated removal to kill it (Terminate, Path to Exile, ect..). The Enlisted Wurm can cascade into BSA (true story) and the BSA gives you a “trump” card to Broodmate Dragon.

Enlisted Wurm – A good cascade can virtually win you the game, the wurm is there to give me that opportunity. The worm alone is not bad in the metagame, being a 5/5 it is out of burn range and at worst you get a sledge out of your cascade: which gives you a 7/7 trample life-linking dream crusher.

Lightning Bolt – Early game this keeps critters off your back. Late game it usually serves as the proverbial “nail in the coffin” for whacking your opponents life total to 0. Bolt is often used to finish off a Baneslayer Angel after an Ajani helix.

Path to Exile – Some people say that this should be Terminate. I like Path to Exile because it takes care of EVERYTHING (Except Malakair Bloodwhich, which will promptly get a Bituminous Blast in the mouth.

Behemoth Sledge - In the current standard metagame life gain is very strong, but life gain by for the sake of life gain is weak. The Behemoth Sledge is a way to gain life and push damage through; it also keeps your guys out of burn range.

Bituminous Blast – This takes care of Rhox War Monk and Bloodwitch, it’s also common to point this at a BSA and pray for a Bolt / Path. This card is a great EOT play to gain board position.

Ajani Vengeant – Even at a four mana Lightning Helix and Fog a guy – Ajani is superb. AV can also wreck control if he stays on the board.

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - This could be a Verdant Catacombs. There are some rare occasions that I want to grow the Knigth of the Reliquary and get a black source of mana. The one Verdant Catacombs could do that, but the the Vastwood does help get the damage through and keeps a Stag out of Bolt range.

Sideboard
Captured Sunlight – This is part of my side board plan against aggressive decks. I usually side-out my three/ two casting cost creatures (except Knight) and my sledges to replace them with removal: Maelstrom Pulse, Resounding Thunder and Volcanic Fallout.

Identity Crisis – This was Blightning, but it wasn’t doing enough against control. The crisis is unexpected most of the time, since it sees less play these days.

Volcanic Fallout- This card has its virtues and its pitfalls. The deck may need another mountain to properly support it. This slot could also be: Pyroclasm, Intimidation Bolt or Naya Charm. They all deal with a swarm in different ways. I am keeping Fallout at the moment because it can burn planeswalkers and it can allow them to commit more to the board (play a Bushwhacker) then wipe the board.

Maelstrom Pulse – This is for Planeswalkers and Turbo – Fog style decks. It can also be used as creature/ token removal and it gives other options for dealing with things like Baneslayer Angel, Malakair Bloodwitch and Rampaging Baloth.

Resounding Thunder – This is a substitute for Banefire in the deck –I can cascade into it to burn an opponent or creature and I can use it’s cycle at EOT to toast a control player, and it’s completely uncounterable – unswerveable.

Other Cards to Consider
Here are a list of cards that could be used. I am testing with some of them. I have run some of them and decided against them but your meta may be different.

Intimidation Bolt – I am testing with this – It completely whores Boros Bushwhacker, but cascading into it with a Bloodbraid Elf is pretty awkward ( you can’t attack).

Blightning – This card is good obviously. I was running it in the SB but I wanted something with more teeth. I added Identity crisis instead. I hear this is good against red decks and hyper aggo.

Woolly Thoctar – He could replace the Great Sable Stags in the deck but the Stags are really good against vampires and with the Bloodghast to protect them from Gatekeeper I think Stags are a better choice.

Terminate – It could be good. It kills most everything except Stag and a smattering of other pro-black creatures that see play here in and there. I like Path better in this deck, Path is more versatile to shore up my mana base (Path my own guys) and it’s easier to cast.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant – No doubt this card is a HOUSE – But where would I put it and when would I bring it in?

Garruk Wildspeaker – Another great card that I am looking forward to testing.

Naya Charm – This card is really good. I was using it with Blighting to get multiple uses out of the Blightnings but it just seemed like too much work when Identity Crisis does the a better Job.

Day of Judgment – This card seems less relevant in standard these days. Since all it takes to “recover” from a DOJ is a Bloodbraid Elf into Putrid Leech or Broodmate Dragon – and you can count on seeing those plays.

I will add more to this section as I do more testing. Obviously with the full Naya colors including manabase that supports BB at your disposal you can pretty much run whatever you want. Thanks for reading.

JM

Ziggurat "Bear" Control WGBu [Standard]

The deck is in concept form but I wanted to get the conversation started. The deck takes advantage of Ancient Ziggurat to play multifunctional creature that allow you to “soft lock” your opponent. All of your creatures are white so Brave the Elements protects them from removal as well as lets you swing through their team if they have blockers.

The deck is also packing what I call "PLAN B" (Plan Baneslayer Angel), which consist of hoping for an unanswered turn five Baneslayer and flying into victory.

Creatures
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Meddling Mage
4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Qasali Pridemage
3 Kor Hookmaster
3 Dauntless Escort
2 Baneslayer Angel

Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Zealous Persecution
4 Brave the Elements

Land
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Plains
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Island

Sideboard
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Harm's Way
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Kor Hookmaster
1 Dauntless Escort
4 Duress

Weakness
At the moment I honestly couldn't tell you what the strengths of the deck are but I do see some problems "on paper" When you play the creatures in the right order (pre-emtive to your opponents plays) the deck will do well, but it seems like you could draw the "wrong" creature at the "wrong" time and then the deck becomes a  bad aggro deck. The deck lacks card draw and probably loses to a successful sweeper; I am hoping the cards in the deck make that difficult to accomplish.

Control Elements

Tidehollow Sculler – This card can sometimes win you games by snaging a timely win condition or mana ramp spell. His key role is hand disruption and he serves as a peek for the Meddling Mage.

Meddling Mage – MM can also be pseudo hand destruction, since he can make cards the opponent's hand dead. He also can stop turbo fog from fogging and can slow cascade by naming things like Bloodbraid Elf. Depending on what you see with Sculler you may want to shut down their removal spells.

Ethersworn Canonist - This card stops cascade until they can remove it. It also slows the game down and keeps you from being rushed to death. You have a small advantage by being able to play Sculler and another creature. This creature is Key to soft-locking.

Dauntless Escort – Escort keeps your guys( or guy) alive, allowing you to keep your lock pieces in place as well as giving you block options, since you can block and then sac him to keep your guys alive.

Removal

Qasali Pridemage – This helps you remove troublesome Enchantments and Artifacts but it most commonly lets you get more damage in early, or pumps a Baneslayer in the air late.

Kor Hookmaster – This is essentially a creature removal spell, good for dealing with Baneslayer or other big creatures. Slows the Boros deck down and also taps the off color blocker which can allow you to use Brave the Elements for an Alpha Swing.

Path to Exile – This clears the way for attacks and keeps you from dying to a fattie.

Zealous Persecution- Against some decks this is a Wrath of God. It’s a powerful card on defense and offence and the only reason that a strategy like this can deliver a kill before your opponent stabilizes.

Other

Baneslayer Angel – Always good to have "Plan B".

Brave the Elements- This card fules the deck by stopping removal, making your guys super blockers or unblockable. This also allow you to cast Baneslayer on Turn 6 with protection.

Sideboard
This is a speculative sideboard since I dont know what the actual problems with the deck are (It may turn out that the deck is just incurably sucky, if thats the case we'll scrap it). I tried to add creature based answers to problems, this maximizes the use of Ziggurat and it gives me something to swing with. Also I perfer white creatures because of Brave the Elements.

Great Sable Stag – Good against Vampires, Jund and Counterspells. There are only a few answers to Stag and Meddling Mage can lock those down.

Harm's Way – This should help in the red match-up and keep you and your guys alive.

Baneslayer Angel – Plan B, Phase 2.

Kor Hookmaster – More Removal.

Dauntless Escort – More “Keep my dudes alive”

Duress – This could be Spell Pierce, but I have two swamps and currenly ten ways to fetch them. This also adds 4 more peeks for the Meddling Mages.

Other Cards to Consider- Creature Tools
These are creatures that didn't find their way into the deck yet, but they are options to deal with issues that may arise with the deck.

Sages of the Anima- Draw Engine that may be useful. The thing is that you really want your spells, especially Brave the Elements.

Vampire Hexmage- If planes walkers become a problem then this guy is a good assassin in that respect.

Knotvine Paladin - This guy looks like he belongs in the deck. 2/2 for two mana and he's white. It could be a good option to beat through your oppenents defenses. I remember running him in Doran- He was a Beast!

Knight of the Reliquary - There really is no tool-boxy lands for the Knight to fetch but with all the fetchlands - She could get big really fast.

Knight of New Alara - This is an anthem effect that may be a really good plan against Honor of the Pure White Decks.

Emeria Angel- This is an anti- aggro, token making machine.

Stoic Angel- Also anti-aggro. It goes with the lock theme and it's white. I may add these instead of Hookmasters, it really depends on how the deck plays out.

Steppe Lynx- I run alot of fetches, this guy could be a good Aggro creature. Plus it's white so it get's Braved.

White Knight: Another pro-black creature that can stand up to Jund and Vampires.

Other Cards to consider- Spell Options
You you want one mana answers because of Ziggurat.

Spell Pierce - I may need another Island to run this reliably. But it's a great card out of the Sideboard against, Honor of the Pure, Harrow, Tendrils of Corruption, Cruel Ultimatum and Board Sweepers.

Pithing Needle- Kills Planeswalkers and Luminarch Ascension. I dont see problems with thes cards because of Pridemage and The fact that I can kill a Planeswalker with dudes.

Feel Free to post your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.

JM

Pro Tour Austin LCQ Bring More T2 [Standard]

The last chance qualifiers have wrapped up for Pro Tour Austin and Jund dominates the tournament tables again, showing five in the Top 8. Let’s talk about the other three decks that topped.

Decklists are Here

This Top 8 did not contain Boros Bushwhacker (Not surprising), Mono Red, or Vampires. This doesn’t mean that these decks are out of the running for top tier slots but the results definitely show the development of Naya and Knight of the Reliquary decks.

GBW Lotus Angel
Apparently when you build a deck with eight $30 mythic rares you can almost beat Jund.  If you look closely you’ll notice that this deck is very similar to last week’s Naya Lotus Angel deck (The one that I said had a lot of potential). It drops Red and Cascade for Black and Planeswalkers.  Woolly Thoctar becomes Putrid Leech, Rampaging Baloth becomes Thornling,  Lightning Bolt becomes Pulse and Behemoth Sledges get Maindecked. The other innovation was the addition of Terramorphic Expanse, which is really not bad with the Cobra on the board. I like the direction that this deck is going.  It has options for Tidehollow Sculler, Day of Judgment and Ob Nixilis, The Fallen.

Creatures
4  Baneslayer Angel
4  Knight of the Reliquary
4  Lotus Cobra
4  Noble Hierarch
4  Putrid Leech
3  Thornling

Spells
3  Behemoth Sledge
2  Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2  Garruk Wildspeaker
4  Maelstrom Pulse
3  Path to Exile

Lands
5  Forest
4  Marsh Flats
3  Plains
1  Sunpetal Grove
2  Swamp
4  Terramorphic Expanse
4  Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard
2  Celestial Purge
3  Duress
3  Great Sable Stag
1  Path to Exile
3  Qasali Pridemage
3  Zealous Persecution

Naya Zoo + 1 Swamp
This deck is also making use of the Terramorphic Expanse as a supplemental fetch land. Last week’s Naya Zoo was rocking Scute Mobs and Naya Charms

This is your typical Ranger of Eos Zoo build with the exception of one lonely swamp, which was splashed to fuel the powerhouse removal spell Maelstrom Pulse. I think this needs another Vengeant but other than that this deck looks like it hit’s hard and has a lot of staying power.  The sideboard is sporting Dauntless Escorts to keep your dudes alive after sweepers and Celestial Purges to put the crunch on Jund.

I think decks like this can really capitalize on a singleton Goblin Bushwhacker; It would give things like Thoctar's and KotR haste and it's tutorable with the Ranger of Eos.

Creatures
4  Bloodbraid Elf
4  Goblin Guide
3  Knight of the Reliquary
2  Ranger of Eos
4  Steppe Lynx
4  Wild Nacatl
4  Woolly Thoctar
  
Spells
1  Ajani Vengeant
4  Lightning Bolt
3  Maelstrom Pulse
4  Path to Exile

Lands
4  Arid Mesa
2  Forest
2  Jungle Shrine
2  Marsh Flats
3  Mountain
3  Plains
1  Swamp
3  Terramorphic Expanse
3  Verdant Catacombs   

Sideboard
1  Behemoth Sledge
3  Celestial Purge
3  Dauntless Escort
2  Pithing Needle
3  Volcanic Fallout
3  White Knight

RWU Control
Finally the control players get tossed a bone and someone stuck Cancel in a T2 deck (The pilot of this deck said that Cancel should have been Double Negative). This deck looks legit but I am not sure about the “Walls” plan. I can say that I have played with Sphinx of the Lost Truths and Bogardan Hellkite and both are very good. The same can be said about the new life lands. I run eight in my Grixis Control list and they usually negated my opponent’s first attack, kinda like a Time Walk.

Creatures
4  Baneslayer Angel
2  Bogardan Hellkite
2  Sphinx of Jwar Isle
2  Sphinx of Lost Truths
2  Wall of Denial
2  Wall of Reverence

Spells
3  Ajani Vengeant
2  Armillary Sphere
1  Banefire
4  Day of Judgment
2  Earthquake
3  Jace Beleren
1  Martial Coup
1  Obelisk of Alara
3  Oblivion Ring
2  Rite of Replication

Lands
1  Arid Mesa
2  Exotic Orchard
4  Island
3  Mountain
4  Plains
4  Rupture Spire
3  Scalding Tarn
3  Sejiri Refuge
  
Sideboard
3  Cancel
3  Celestial Purge
3  Harm's Way
3  Luminarch Ascension
3  Swerve

That’s all for today, I will be posting my Hellkite control list soon with card explanations. Here is the deck in its current form.  Click here for the Link.

JM