So I recently saw was linked to someone else’s blog on this site and I thought it would be interesting to write Tournament Reports here instead. Most recently there was a RCQ in Seattle. Weeks previous to the event I decided Blue Hack’n’Slash rush was the deck to beat. So I set out to get a deck that was 65/35 to Halavar and Timmo without making my matchup with other RCQ staples such as Nathadan, Mojo, Taheo, Omedus significantly worse.
First up was Omedus aggro. I took out the suicide stylings of normal Omedus Rush in order to Ramp to bigger allies on the tope end of the curve. The deck also took advantage of the priest discard suite. It ran well but if the slasher decks got early weapons it was usually 1 in the loss column. Testing with both Jon Reaver and Nynjah, the deck could never steal enough tempo from decks with such powerful cheap abilities. So that pile hit the failed deck bin.
Next was Tazo rush. The deck seemed ripe with promise. Cheap counterspell( fizzle), cheap allies, and no card draw. And that was just it, even if I fizzled jackknife, Timmo still raced Ta’zo everytime. In this match up there was no answer for Untargetables. They just keep coming. Side note: Spellsteal is hilarious tech against rend, deadly poison, BoW, GotW, Drain Mana.
Next paladin control. I don’t even want to talk about how frustrating this was for me. I am going to put it out there, I am a HORRIBLE control player. I know Nathadan can beat these decks, but damn if I could play it with any consistency. Never again.
At the end of the day, my search for the Holy Grail deck proved fruitless. So I decided to play my Timmo build that I had discussed with my build partner Kevin. Shocking simularities to Kysuke’s/ Casey Ehert’s build.
Timmo Shadestep
Allies:
4x Apprentice Merry
4x Jeleane Nightbreeze
4x Luppo Lowdown Shadefizzle
2x Jubilee Arcspark
Abilities:
4x Purloin
4x Jackknife
3x Cold Blood
4x Mutilate
3x Deadly Poison
2x Escape Artist
Equipment:
4x Whispering Blade of Slaying
4x Perdition’s Blade
2x Scarlet Kris
2x Eskhandar’s Collar
Quests:
4x Corki’s Ransom
4x One Draenei’s Junk
3x Forces of Jadenear
P.S. This deck is silly strong. I was not pleased to be running this at the RCQ but I refused to get run over by Halavar all day. On to the Main Event!
Match 1: Twigbelly
This match should be harded than it was but purloin and dismantle became MVP when it stole the sole Twig in his hand in both games. Jackknife turn 3 is the ultimate Shaddup to all horde rush decks and it seemed to work well this time as well. Past that all I was doing was racing rend and consoling a very frustrated gorebelly player. He seemed to have teched too much with withering shout, rend, and various other cards that dilute the rush.
Match: 1-0 Rounds: 2-0
Match 2: Timmo Combo
When I sat down I expected this to be a mirror match. How wrong I was? Game 1 I tempoed him out with Eskhandar’s Collar really slowing him down. Also the 4x Dismantle really swung tempo my way. Game 2 early Deadly Poison comboed with a surprise Barman Shanker ended up giving enough damage to beat me in a game I thought I had full control in. Game 3 was a landslide as I had seen his entire deck and just played slow in order to always have the solutions to his problems.
Matches: 2-0 Rounds: 4-1
Match 3: Warrax Steelsmith – Jamie
I have played Jamie at the last three regionals and each regional he has been running warrior solo control. I have won this match up in the past and “we have become increasingly efficient in doing so.” This time he was running a warrax deck akin to what Kevin and I had run at the last RCQ in Seattle. So I was aware of the tricks it could play. First game the purloin/dismantle combo Forces him to have only a naked eskhandar’s right claw out that he eventually replaces with a naked wraith scythe. Killed on turn 6. Game 2 I sided in 3x Cobrascale hood noticing that he had not emulated our quest lineup. He instead was employing what looked like 15+ quests. So a turn 4 cobrascale met 5 quests that were 2x sunken treasure, 1x A final Blow, 2x Finkle Einhorn. No allies or equipment in the yard. In two turns he was killed by 20 point of damage from hood. That seemed like cheating a bit.
Matches: 3-0 Rounds: 6-1
Match 4: Yanna’s Gift
Funny deck names aside, the pilot had played a version of this deck at worlds and it would seem like a bad matchup. Game 1 I out tempo him purloining his cyclone. Game 2 is close but he ends up beating me with moonfire (hidden tech) and Twig (bad with Gift). Game 3 he plays into a turn 3 jackknife that I don’t have and he played Yeti and Brotherhood into a solid Cobrascale Hood (also not in my hand). We end up emptying each other hands with him only having a Kulvo on board. A Solid top deck would get me in this game; instead force of nature into Defias is one in the loss column.
Matches: 3-1 Rounds: 7-3
Match 5: Timmo Mirror – Gavin
I am proud to say that I am one of the few who has a career winning record against Gavin as he doesn’t he lose very often. That being said he is dangerous mo’ and he is running a mirror deck. So the dice looks to decide this match so turn 1 I purloin him and he laughs. I look at hand consisting of: 3x Dismantle, 2x Jackknife, 1x Perdition’s, 1x Forces of Jadeanar. Grab the Perdition’s and proceed to play untargetables for the win.
Game 2 I make a couple of play mistakes and he just steamrolls me. Game 3 actually quite close but I eventually win the race by a nose hair. At this point both of my friends also playing Timmo have gotten multiple losses and are quite frustrated with the little gnome.
Matches: 4-1 Rounds: 9-4
Match 6: Rotun – Lee
Lee and I have played at a lot of Regionals recently and he always seems to have the bad match up for the situation. This time however, he has beaten both Kevin and Gavin running similar decks as my own. The dice roll my way which is good as I feel I need all the help I can in this match up. So game 1 goes pretty smoothly with me controlling his weapons and using untargetables to overwhelm him. Game 2 Eskhanar’s Collar and 4x Dismantle kept him in check as in neither game did he draw many quests, which may have been his downfall.
Matches: 5-1 Rounds: 11-4
All in all a good tournament, however playing a net deck sullies the win a little bit. However it confirms what I have been expecting which is how lopsided the meta is right now. I feel this deck could/should have gone x-0 with a better pilot/luck. That being said I refuse to play Blue slasher for the April 5th RCQ, so expect a report with far more losses detailed.
Any Questions? Always shoot me an email and I would be happy to discuss deckbuilding and strat. Hit me at seth_miner@gmail.com
Tags: RCQ Constructed
Related to:
World of Warcraft TCG
