The Rundown is a new weekly feature that shows the results of local tournaments in Montreal and interesting decks around the world that we find for you guys to try out at your next FNM. No elaborate discussion, just list after list after list.
In this week’s Rundown, KYT showcases some of the more interesting mill decks that have been popping up.
Sorry for the lateness of this article this week, but it’s been a busy time. I had to make sure I was getting the new Mana Deprived t-shirts done in time for Nationals. Onwards to the Rundown!
Dungrove Beatdown
[deck title=Dungrove Beatdown – PTQ Top 8]
[Lands]
20 Forest
2 Tectonic Edge
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Dungrove Elder
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Acidic Slime
1 Primeval Titan
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Cultivate
4 Beast Within
2 Overwhelming Stampede
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
1 Batterskull
4 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Karn Liberated
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Spellskite
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Acidic Slime
2 Surgical Extraction
4 Nature’s Claim
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
I posted this deck as the Deck of the Week for last week after it top 8ed a Japanese PTQ, but it top 8ed ANOTHER one with this list. The differences are fairly minor. +1 [card]Batterskull[/card], -1 [card]Karn Liberated[/card] in the main and +1 [card]Thrun, the Last Troll[/card] -1 [card]Creeping Corrosion[/card] in the sideboard. I still think this deck is underpowered compared to some of the top decks in the format, but I think it is a legit deck. My good friend Jeff Casselman piloted this to a 3-1 finish at his FNM and feels strongly enough about it to make it his current #1 choice for the local PTQ this weekend.
Mathieu Laforce also put up a good result this week, going 4-1 at FacetoFaceGames.com‘s Thursday Night Magic. He sent the following to me:
My name is Mathieu Laforce a.k.a. Johnny with a little bit of Spike. I’ve felt in love with the Dungrove Beatdown deck. I managed to go 4-1 with this monster at the local shop nearby.
I believe this deck should be considered more of a land destruction deck that can put early pressure than a pure beatdown deck. I’ve wrecked UW Control deck 3 times and RB Vampires failed to stop my big creatures (Big thanks to Baloth!). I only lost to Valakut, but mulliganed 2 out of the 3 games.
I will make some changes to the deck for my next Magic Night :
+ 1 [card]Stingerfling Spider[/card] (some flyers are annoying like Emeria Angel and Consecrated sphinx)
+1 [card]Tectonic Edge[/card] (More land destruction and smoothen the land drops)
-2 [card]Karn Liberated[/card] (too slow and would be good only against control, which is already a good matchup)
I have won every game I have played against Jeff while piloting UR Twin, but I did feel [card]Dungrove Elder[/card] was a fast clock. I can’t tap it with Exarch, so I either have to eat the damage or chump with Exarch. It’s definitely a real card, especially if you are up against Caw-Blade players that are not packing some number of [card]Day of Judgment[/card]s in their main board.
UR Twin
Speaking of UR Twin, I have been mainly testing the following list by Owen Turtenwald:
[deck title=UR Twin by Owen Turtenwald]
[Lands]
3 Arid Mesa
4 Halimar Depths
5 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
5 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Deceiver Exarch
3 Grim Lavamancer
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Dispel
2 Gitaxian Probe
2 Into the Roil
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Shrine of Piercing Vision
2 Spell Pierce
4 Splinter Twin
3 Twisted Image
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Into the Core
2 Jace Beleren
3 Mental Misstep
2 Mutagenic Growth
2 Negate
3 Slagstorm
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Owen managed to not only top 8 an MTGO Premier with it, but he followed it up with a 4-0 in a daily. As sketchy as [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card] looks in the list, I have been extremely happy with it. It negates Caw-Blade’s Hawks, which are their only early pressure, and allows you to just “draw-go” them to death. Against aggro decks, fetchland into Grim has won me a few games on its own when the opponent does not have the removal. I am highly considering bringing this to the PTQ tomorrow.
UW Mill
[deck title=UW Mill by Ron OHara – PTQ Top 8]
[Lands]
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
4 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Tectonic Edge
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
3 Consecrated Sphinx
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Gideon Jura
4 Jace Beleren
4 Archive Trap
2 Blue Sun’s Zenith
4 Day of Judgment
4 Jace’s Erasure
3 Lightmine Field
4 Mana Leak
4 Oblivion Ring
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Flashfreeze
3 Mental Misstep
2 Negate
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Timely Reinforcements
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Smi77y’s current creation is a UW Mill list that surrounds itself with the Caw-Blade package and I am sure we will hear about it soon on his site 60cards.com. He showed me his list and it makes a ton of sense. He plays [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] instead of [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card]. This PTQ top 8 list by Ron OHara is also a UW Mill list but it is built in a completely different way. Not sure I could ever get behind [card]Lightmine Field[/card]s though. Think I would just prefer [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card].
Deck of the Week: RUG Mill
[deck title= RUG Mill by Tony Pagliocco]
[Lands]
3 Forest
8 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Terramorphic Expanse
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Hedron Crab
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Spellskite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Chandra, the Firebrand
3 Jace, Memory Adept
4 Archive Trap
4 Explore
3 Into the Roil
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Creeping Corrosion
4 Deceiver Exarch
4 Obstinate Baloth
1 Spellskite
3 Splinter Twin
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Tony Pagliocco who I was able to meet at SCG Boston managed to top 8 a TCG Player TCQ with this Kyle Sanchez concoction. This is quite relevant because as of this writing, Kyle is 4-0 at Nationals and crushing every Caw-Blade player in his path. I have been wary of Kyle’s decks in the past, but this one looks like it has some serious potential. Of course, Kyle has made some tweaks since this version of RUG Mill so you should definitely keep your eyes open for a potential deck tech of his updated list on the mothership this weekend.
Take care,
KYT
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.