This past weekend we saw some of the first developments of the new Standard with M12 at the Star City Games Open Series in Cincinnati and Japanese Nationals. The new format appeared to be wide open in both events and there was a large amount of diversity. Today I’m going to review what I would play going into the current metagame.
In Japan and Cincinnati there were 12 distinct archetypes among the top 8 and top 16, respectively. Among those 12 archetypes, three finished ahead of the pack in regards to number of pilots. Those being Valakut, with 5 pilots, Cawblade, with 4 pilots, and Tempered Steel, with 4 pilots. With knowledge that the format is wide open, and Valakut, Cawblade and Tempered Steel are decks to look out for, I’m looking to play a powerful deck that has each of those decks in mind.
The deck I am leaning towards, to accomplish this goal, is Eldrazi. Two different variations of the deck are presently around with the standard Eldrazi Green strategy and the recently built [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] version, debut by Toshiyuki Kadooka at Japanaese Nationals. I believe that Eldrazi has a good game against Valakut, a somewhat questionable game against Tempered Steel preboard but makes up with a strong game postboard and decent odds against Cawblade.
Here is the list Kadooka piloted at Japanese Nationals:
[Deck title=Eldrazi Green by Toshiyuki Kadooka]
[Lands]
14 Forest
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Khalni Garden
4 Tectonic Edge
[/Lands][Creatures]
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Overgrown Battlement
2 Terastodon
3 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 Wurmcoil Engine
[/Creatures][Spells]
2 Ancient Stirrings
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Explore
4 Quicksilver Amulet
4 Rampant Growth
4 Summoning Trap
[/Spells][Sideboard]
3 Creeping Corrosion
3 Nature’s Claim
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Pelakka Wurm
2 Spellskite
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
[/Sideboard][/Deck]
Before I get to the particulars of the deck I want to speak a little about the deck’s pilot, Toshiyuki Kadooka. Kadooka is fresh off a 2nd place finish at Pro Tour Nagoya, so the guy knows what he is doing. Kadooka’s concoction got him off to a great 4-0 start in the standard portion. Unfortunately, the wheels fell of in the draft portion where Kadooka went 2-4, eliminating his chances of making top 8. Who knows, maybe the deck would have had a higher finish had Kadooka not been held down by his limited performance.
This deck reminds me a lot of the G/W hideaway deck from the most recent extended season that tried to cheat Emrakul and other large fatties into play. What I love about this deck, and the hideaway deck, is how it can just end games on the spot if one [card]Summoning Trap[/card] or [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] trigger, is allowed to resolve. Decks like this don’t have all that much of a requirement in the skill department, however they are extremely powerful.
Here is a breakdown of some of the cards I love in the deck, and some that I’m not sure about:
[card]Ancient Stirrings[/card]
I think this card is great for the deck, and I’d like to fit in more than 2 if possible. Its really versatile, in that if your short on mana you can search for a land or [card]Everflowing Chalice[/card], if you have [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] and need a fatty, you can search up Emrakul or Ulamog, and if you need a [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] to get some fatties from your hand into play, it can help with that too. It also fits well on the curve because you can play it turn 1 without disturbing your turn 2 mana acceleration.
[card]Rampant Growth[/card], [card]Overgrown Battlement[/card], [card]Everflowing Chalice[/card] & [card]Explore[/card]
Having 15 mana accelerants that cost two mana is a huge asset in this deck. They ensure that you can power out a turn three [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card], should your hand contain it. Even if you aren’t fortunate enough to have turn 3 Amulet, it is still likely to have the mana for [card]Summoning Trap[/card] on turn 4.
[card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card]
This card is what spawned this new variation of Eldrazi Green. It’s the backbone of the deck and obviously is extremely abusive with Eldrazi creatures. Having Eldrazi coming into play at the end of your opponent’s turn will usually end games due to your opponents lacking in good instant speed answers. [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] allows you to bluff flashing a creature in to play to block opponents attacking creatures, and could potentially intimidate opponents into not attacking . If this card happens to resolve, your odds of losing the game become significantly lower.
[card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card]
I’m not a huge fan of [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] in this deck. I believe the main reason that it is present is because Kadooka feared that Mono Red might be a popular deck due to the powerful upgrades it got from M12 in [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card] and [card]Incinerate[/card]. I feel like [card]Primeval Titan[/card] could be strong in this deck as a backup plan in case they manage to keep [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] off the board, or if you have no creatures to cheat into play and I feel like Wurmcoil would be the first card to get cut if [card]Primeval Titan[/card] was to find it’s way into the deck.
[card]Spellskite[/card]
This little guy is great at taking one for the team and redirecting opposing [card]Nature’s Claim[/card] and [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] away from [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card]. Should most likely come in against any opponent packing green, because they will most likely also have [card]Nature’s Claim[/card].
[card]Creeping Corrosion[/card]
This card seems exceptionally good now, especially considering that [Card]Tempered Steel[/Card] won Japanese Nationals. The card is a complete blowout against the artifact legions of Tempered Steel, but happens to be incidentally great against U/W Puresteel, if that deck ends up becoming popular.
One thing that really pulls me towards this deck is that it has a great game against Valakut and other decks that do not have maindeck ways to deal with [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] or [card]Summoning Trap[/card]. Even against the more controlling decks like U/W and Cawblade, you have the ability to slow-roll the Amulet until your opponent either taps out or until you have enough mana to pay for [card]Mana Leak[/card] and [card]Spell Pierce[/card].
I really live the natural curve of the deck as well. Turn 1 you could be playing [card]Ancient Stirrings[/card], turn 2 you accelerating your mana and turn 3 you have [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] down threatening a possible turn 4 win. Even if your opponent happens to somehow stop your Amulet and [card]Summoning Trap[/card], you still have the potential of hard-casting your fatties, especially [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] and [card]Terastodon[/card].
Moving forward with this deck, I believe that it will be correct to cut the [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card] for [card]Primeval Titan[/card] to improve it’s game against more controlling decks, where you want [card]Primeval Titan[/card]’s ability to win the late game via mana advantage and [card]Eye of Ugin[/card] if your not able to get there with [card]Quicksilver Amulet[/card] and [card]Summoning Trap[/card].
Here is my starting point with the deck:
[Deck title=Francis Toussaint – Eldrazi Green]
[Lands]
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Eye of Ugin
12 Forest
4 Khalni Garden
1 Mystifying Maze
4 Tectonic Edge
[/Lands][Creatures]
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Overgrown Battlement
3 Primeval Titan
2 Terastodon
3 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
[/Creatures][Spells]
2 Ancient Stirrings
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Explore
4 Quicksilver Amulet
4 Rampant Growth
4 Summoning Trap
[/Spells][Sideboard]
3 Creeping Corrosion
4 Nature’s Claim
4 Obstinate Baloth
2 Pelakka Wurm
2 Spellskite
[/Sideboard][/Deck]
The changes from Kadooka’s list to mine maindeck are –3 [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card], –1 [card]Explore[/card], –2 [card]Forest[/card], +3 [card]Primeval Titan[/card], +1 [card]Eye of Ugin[/card], +1 [card]Mystifying Maze[/card], +1 [card]Khalni Garden[/card], and –2 [card]Thrun, the Last Troll[/card], +1 [card]Nature’s Claim[/card], +1 [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card], in the sideboard. Nothing too major, but I believe these changes will improves the deck’s chances against the metagame considering the fairly small number of Mono Red and the large number of control decks.
I would definitely recommend this deck to anyone looking for something fun, but still stay competitive, to try out. Good luck, and have fun, to all those who are exploring our new format. Thanks for reading, and keep on brewing!
Francis Toussaint
