Introduction
It’s that time of year again, a new PTQ season coming in a little over a month with a new, untried format waiting to be delved for powerful combos, decks and archetypes. While I may not find Lorwyn/Morningtide limited very good (linear mechanics are NOT something which makes my drafting experience more enjoyable), nor do I predict Shadowmoor will be any improvement (Barely any removal in a heavy creature set? If creature stalls are your thing, this is the set to play!). While the low quality of the recent sets may have caused me to quit Type 2, I can never let by the chance to explore a whole new format and work making decks that shift as fast as the metagame, hopefully doing well in a few tournaments along the way.
    Now that I’ve got my little rant about the current face of limited and type 2, it’s time to start looking into the decks that may be played in coming tournaments. I’ve looked around at the current lists I can find, plus the ones that I’ve been working on to compile 8 decks of various archetypes to start our trek into the format of Lorwyn block constructed.

The Decks!
Control
The first deck I’ll be getting into is the most hyped up deck from standard, with good reason. With cheap, tempo based fliers and some of the most powerful cards in the block with Bitterblossom, Cryptic/Profane Command as well as having the option to either rush with efficient flyers or control the game with counters and mana shorts, Faeries is going to be a popular choice. As well, many T2 players have plenty of experience with this deck and seeing as how it loses almost nothing in the switch of formats, many players will stick with what they have and know to try to grab an elusive blue envelope. I personally think that there are better choices out there as the hate coming in with Shadowmoor combined with the fact the field most likely being prepared for this deck.

Pros
- Versatile
- Lots of powerful threats and answers
- Efficient and able to take the advantage and hold it
Cons
- Lots of hate
- Harder to play
- Expected (0% rogue factor)

And a list:

Faeries
4 x Vivid Creek
4 x Secluded Glen
4 x Sunken Ruins
4 x Mutavault
5 x Island
3 x Swamp
4 x Pestermite
4 x Spellstutter Sprite
4 x Mistbind Clique
3 x Scion of Oona
1 x Sower of Temptaion
3 x Vendilion Clique
4 x Bitterblossom
4 x Nameless inversion
4 x Cryptic Command
2 x Profane Command
3 x Sage’s Dousing

The next deck I’ll be getting into is another that is making the jump over from standard with little loss of cards, maintaining its exact core that gives the archetype its name and reputation. With powerful evoke effects in Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw plus the reusability with Makeshift Mannequin make this deck have a powerful mid game and an even stronger late game with a profane command to the face. Again, this may be a deck some players choose based on their experience with it as well as having the cards for it already. I think this deck is a lot of fun to play and capable of doing decently well, but looks to lose to burn heavy aggressive decks.

Pros
- Fun
- Has a powerful mid-late game
- Versatile threats
Cons
- Disruptable
- Weak in some match-ups
- Much weaker without namesake card

A sample list:

Mannequin Builds (UB, Ubw, Ugw etc.)
8 x Island
4 x Secluded Glen
4 x Swamp
4 x Vivid Creek
2 x Vivid Marsh
2 x Wanderwine Hub
4 x Mulldrifter
3 x Oona's Prowler
4 x Shriekmaw
3 x Sower of Temptation    
3 x Broken Ambitions
4 x Cryptic Command
4 x Makeshift Mannequin
4 x Nameless Inversion
4 x Ponder
3 x Profane Command

The last control deck is slightly less powerful then the others and more likely to be played as a pet deck then one with the aim of winning a high end tournament. While it may not be the best choice, many people have a soft spot for Merfolk decks and there will most likely be at least a few at your local PTQ. The deck wins through the combination of Drowner of Secrets and the mass of other merfolk, with Judge of Currents to get the players life total a safe margin away from any aggressive deck. The strategy is easily disrupted however, as killing the Drowner or resolving a Firespout will wrath the board and make the deck have little chance of victory.

Pros
- Cheap to build
- Many players have the deck already
Cons
- Easily disrupted
- Slow
- Sideboard hate against aggressive decks also greatly hurts this deck.

Merfolk Mill
4 x Wanderwine Hub
4 x Mystic Gate
4 x Mutavault
4 x Vivid Creek
3 x Plains
5 x Island
4 x Drowner of Secrets
4 x Silvergill Adept
4 x Judge of Currents
4 x Merrow Reejerey
4 x Cursecatcher
3 x Cryptic Command/ 3 x Sages’s Dousing
3 x Summon the school
4 x Broken Ambitions
2 x Merrow Commerce
4 x Grimoire Thief

Mid-Range Decks
There will always be a good number of midrange decks consisting of 2-3 colors and just running the best cards in the format together and hoping they work. A good example of this is many of the Doran treefolk builds, stalling out with removal and harbingers before dropping huge threats and taking over the game. Some versions are dropping the Doran and just making a GWB good stuff deck with bitterblossom’s, garruks, chameleon colossi (The plural, I assure you), Oversouls of dusk etc. I really like this style of deck based on the high level of versatility from the huge range of threats the deck can run/harbinge for. A more treefolk version of the deck could be something such as (needs more thoughtseize, no?):

Pros:
- VERY versatile
- Quite similar to t2 version so many players may have cards/ skill playing this deck
- Big Profane commands for the win
Cons:
- Expensive
- Mana troubles
- May need to mulligan more aggressively as hands may contain all high cost cards

Doran
4 x Murmuring Bosk
4 x Vivid Grove
3 x Vivid Marsh
2 x Gilt-Leaf Palace
5 x Forest
3 x Swamp
3 x Plains
4 x Doran, the Seige Tower
4 x Leaf-Crowned Elder
4 x Treefolk Harbinger
4 x Bosk Banneret
2 x Timber Protector
3 x Chameleon Colossus
2 x Garruk Wildspeaker
2 x Liliana Vess
3 x Fertile Ground
3 x Oblivian Ring
1 x Nameless Inversion
3 x Profane Command
1 x Primal Command

Another very popular deck this season is sure to be many of the various elf builds, from RG warriors to WG Mirrorweave. This deck excels at dropping efficient threats that all work together to make each other stronger and quickly overwhelm the opponent, either winning through total overrun or a liege making your elves even bigger. The white versions are more aggressive while the black versions have more removal and use cards like thoughtseize to control all aspects of the opponents side of the board. Other then a weakness to firespout and other board clearing spells, various elf builds look to be a powerful choice for the upcoming PTQ season and will most likely have a strong showing.

Pros
- Can add various colors to a central build for versatility based on the meta
- Not overly expensive to build
- Good vs spot removal
- Hard for some decks to sideboard against
Cons
- Dies horribly to wrath effects
- 0% rogue factor
- Quite a few cards that are horrible late-game/ runs out of gas

Elves (Gb and Gw)
4 x Oblivion Ring
3 x Mirrorweave
4 x Imperious Perfect
4 x Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 x Wolf-Skull Shaman
3 x Heritage Druid
4 x Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
4 x Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 x Garruk Wildspeaker
3 x Safehold Elite
4 x Wooded Bastion
4 x Mutavault
3 x Reflecting Pool
4 x Vivid Grove
2 x Plains
7 x Forest

Aggro Decks
The fastest of the aggro decks and probably with the most hype surrounding it, Kithkin decks are sure to be played at any block tournament over the season. This deck is capable of blazing fast starts, finishing off an unprepared opponent before they even suspect what hit them. Having a curve stopping at 3 gives this deck an easy way to drop tons of creatures before pumping them all with a Wizened Cenn and a Surge of Thoughtweft for the win. As well, a quick Kinsbaile Borderguard gives the whole deck a nice cushion of mass removal protection and some occasionally needed large creatures. Without a borderguard, however, decks with maindeck Firespouts may cause some troubles and keep this deck from running over all non-aggro decks by turn 5. A list could be something like:

Pros
- Very cheap to build
- Very fast
- Decent answers to threats (O-ring/Harrier)
Cons
- No real card advantage
- Somewhat vulnerable to mass removal
- Mono-color makes a slight lack of versatility.

Kithkin
4 x Rustic Clachen
4 x Mutavault
14 x Plains
4 x Wizened Cenn
3 x Cenn’s Heir
4 x Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 x Goldmeadow Harrier
4 x Knight of Meadowgrain
4 x Kinsbaile Borderguard
3 x Mirror Entity/ 3 x Spectral Possession
4 x Oblivian ring
4 x Surge of Thoughtweft
4 x Militia’s Pride

Another very fast, albeit less popular aggro deck is the various mono-red elemental/goblin/rdw style decks. Some versions run all elementals with a harbinger package of 1-ofs, while some go more of the burn route with Countryside Crusher and Ashenmoor Gouger as the large efficient attackers. Some creature based builds even run Mudbutton Clanger, Mudbrawler Cohort and other cheap 1-2 drops to beat any slow start with burn to finish them off. The only problem with running cards such as these is they do absolutely nothing if an opposing deck manages to stabilize and drop creatures with toughness 3. Doran style decks cause small creatures in decks such as this much grief.

Pros
- Very fast
- Even cheaper
- Lots of cheap removal
Cons
- Small creatures which serve no purpose on their own
- May have to mulligan aggressively (which is BAD for red decks).

MonoRed Elementals/burn
18 Mountain
4 Mutavault
1 Spitebellows
1 Nova Chaser
4 Rage Forger
4 Incandescent Soulstoke
4 Sunflare Shaman/ 4 Ashenmoor Gouger
4 Inner-Flame Acolyte
4 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Flamekin Bladewhirl
4 Shard Volley
4 Lash Out
4 Tarfire
*4 Flame Javalin over 1 of the burn.

The last aggro deck is slightly less of the style to beat down with efficient weenies and win with burn and more of a combo/controlling style with cheap rogues prowling out even efficienter (that’s DEFINITELY a word) creatures to win through evasion and Bitterblossom (A common way to win). The rogue deck doesn’t loss overly much in its jump from standard, but the prevalence of Nameless Inversion, Firespout and cheap burn may cause this deck to go nowhere but Tier 2.

Pros
- Bitterblossom
- Many players own the cards already/ have experience playing the deck
- Capable of evasive turn 4 wins
Cons
- Easily disrupted (kill the Stinkdrinker Bandit/prowl enabler)
- Many useless cards late game
- Little card advantage


Mono Black Rogues
4 x Mutavault
19 x Swamp
2 x  Earwig Squad
4 x Prickly Boggart
4 x Inkfathom Infiltrator
4 x Frogtosser Banneret
4 x Stinkdrinker Bandit
4 x Oona's Blackguard
4 x Nightshade Stinger
4 x Nameless Inversion
3 x Noggin Whack
4 x Bitterblossom

Deck of the Week!
This is the deck(s) I’m currently working on right now and I just thought I’d share as the season approaches. This is a RG warrior elf build that has a consistant 5th turn win and is very capable of winning a turn faster. It has efficient creatures and ways of dealing with most decks in the format and is capable of being changed only a little to make it viable in any meta.

My Deck
4 x Fire-Lit Thicket
10 x Mountain
9 x Forest
4 x Tattermunge Maniac
4 x Bramblewood Paragon
4 x Wren’s Run Vanquisher
4 x Imperious Perfect
4 x Boggart Ram-Gang
3 x Boartusk Liege
2 x Chameleon Colossus
4 x Flame Javelin
4 x Lash Out
2 x Tarfire
2 x Giantbaiting

I hope this has been an enlightening start to a good PTQ season and good luck with all your block endeavors. Please be sure to post any interesting decks and I’ll see if they get a spot in future editions (try for combo decks, I don’t have any of those!)
- Mike -

Tags: Lorwyn Block Shadowmoor Morningtide

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

Bookmark: