Okay so before I jump into this time around, we have made some changes to the deck. I will not be sharing those changes until after the GP. Gotta keep some secrets ladies and gents. Overall though the changes are minor and only act to shore up some minor inconsistencies that the deck exibited over the weekend. I played extrememly well but definitely feel that I can continue to improve. I still kept some weak hands and got incredibly lucky with my opponent also stalling out. I need to remember that a good 6 is better than a mediocre 7. If I take anything away from this tournament it is that.
Okay so we went 6-0-2 on the day. I dropped from the tournament and split prizes with Nick Harry once we were set to play each other in the finals. The reason I did this is simple, I don't play legacy and would not be able to prepare in time for the Invitational. Nick meanwhile, can smash face and I wish him well. So we split some cash and the better part of a box of Dark Ascension.
The deck is just so incredibly resilient now with all those undying guys and the swords just give the deck so much reach. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the deck performed against Spirits, Pod Decks and Wolf Run Ramp decks. It even did extremely well against Solar Flare. The only major deck that I didn't get a chance to play was Zombies, but I feel in my testing that this isn't a horrible match for us either.
I will be playing this deck at the GP and i feel pretty good about it. I'm sure I'll have a more comprehensive update after the event.
As an aside, I had one guy tell me that his Pod deck just should never lose to Werewolves. I asked him if he had tested against it. He said it wasn't on his radar and it shouldn't be. I replied that I had just 2-0ed him so clearly it was something to consider. His reply to me was that if we played 10 games he would win 7 out of 10. Remember kids actual wins mean more than theroretical wins.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Werewolves
Okay, so since Werewolves had a great outing on Friday night (5-0-1 baby!) I wanted to write about the deck and the path it's taken to get to where it is now. I've been wanting to play Werewolves since they were first spoiled, but unfortunately Innistrad just did not have the toys we needed to make it anything more than a casual deck. Dark Ascension however gave us a lot of new toys that I believe finally make this a competitive deck. Immerwolf, while providing standard lord buffs also makes it so our guys are permanently in Night mode and this is where they are the most dangerous. We also got our hands on Huntmaster of the Fells which is just an absolute house. Over the course of two turns, you have 2 life gain, a 2/2 wolf, 2 damage to your opponent's head and 2 damage to one of their creatures, pretty good for 4cc.
Now let's talk about some of the card choices. Young Wolf, what else is there to say, he gets buffs from Immerwolf and flipped Mayor and he's hard to get off the field. They have to kill him twice and you're going to get in a few hits with him early because quite frankly your opponent doesn't want him to die.
Mayor of Avabruck is an absolute house. If your opponent can't deal with him, he pumps out 3/3 wolves turn after turn and in conjunction with everything else in the deck, very quickly starts the swarm.
Daybreak Ranger, or as I like to call him Formatbreak Ranger, is our removal guy, he blows up flying spirits and Delvers all day long and when he flips, he's capable of taking down pretty much anything, even Titans, especially with his buffs.
Instigator Gang is the coffin nail. Coupled with Full Moon's Rise, he's giving +3/+0 to all of your guys, that already have trample. Pretty sick.
Garruk Relentless also plays so many roles in this deck. He turns out 2/2 wolves. Later in the game it's correct to flip him, not only for 1/1 deathtouch wolves, but also the ability to search for guys after a wrath effect and also the overrun late in the game.
Here is what you came for.
Now after my playtesting and the feedback from Austin Faust, how played the deck on Friday, I have made some changes. Swords are bonkers in the format right now and I thought we needed a little bit more reach. Nick suggested that even though it doesn't fit the Werewolf theme maybe we needed more to do on turn 2 than Mayor. So we are adding Strangeroot Geist. Geist is another undying guy that holds a sword real well and also gives us much needed comeback from a Black Sun's Zenith. We are also going to try a 2/1 split on Sword of War and Peace and Feast and Famine. The other addition is to the sideboard. Mondronen Shaman I think is really good against control decks and I think better than Instigator Gang in those matchups. Something to try. For your consideration, Werewolves 2.0.
Now let's talk about some of the card choices. Young Wolf, what else is there to say, he gets buffs from Immerwolf and flipped Mayor and he's hard to get off the field. They have to kill him twice and you're going to get in a few hits with him early because quite frankly your opponent doesn't want him to die.
Mayor of Avabruck is an absolute house. If your opponent can't deal with him, he pumps out 3/3 wolves turn after turn and in conjunction with everything else in the deck, very quickly starts the swarm.
Daybreak Ranger, or as I like to call him Formatbreak Ranger, is our removal guy, he blows up flying spirits and Delvers all day long and when he flips, he's capable of taking down pretty much anything, even Titans, especially with his buffs.
Instigator Gang is the coffin nail. Coupled with Full Moon's Rise, he's giving +3/+0 to all of your guys, that already have trample. Pretty sick.
Garruk Relentless also plays so many roles in this deck. He turns out 2/2 wolves. Later in the game it's correct to flip him, not only for 1/1 deathtouch wolves, but also the ability to search for guys after a wrath effect and also the overrun late in the game.
Here is what you came for.
Now after my playtesting and the feedback from Austin Faust, how played the deck on Friday, I have made some changes. Swords are bonkers in the format right now and I thought we needed a little bit more reach. Nick suggested that even though it doesn't fit the Werewolf theme maybe we needed more to do on turn 2 than Mayor. So we are adding Strangeroot Geist. Geist is another undying guy that holds a sword real well and also gives us much needed comeback from a Black Sun's Zenith. We are also going to try a 2/1 split on Sword of War and Peace and Feast and Famine. The other addition is to the sideboard. Mondronen Shaman I think is really good against control decks and I think better than Instigator Gang in those matchups. Something to try. For your consideration, Werewolves 2.0.
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