Headline – Daspien Bladedancer 6-0, 3-0 in Durotar!
I was endlessly researching decks with only 1 week left until the realm championships, but little did I know that a suggestion from my teammate Warren would leave me with a flight to worlds. I had initially started testing a Desrecrator Stormclaw build, along with a warlock deck, and finally a “quantumbelly” deck list Kysuke had given me. I was discussing the decks that I had been testing over Magic Workstation with Warren trying to figure out which deck would be the strongest, when he mentioned something I had been thinking about for a while, Daspien Bladedancer. One of the largest factors that led me to seriously look over Daspien was the casual mention of Adrenaline Rush.
As soon as I got home I rushed onto AIM, pm’ed one of my other team mates Brian “B-Twigg” Terwilliger, and immediately he was digging the ideas and we constructed the initial build together. We began to make a sideboard and thought that it would be cool to Adrenaline Rush after a Bringer of Death and refill the board, or deck and opponent using Greench out. As we did some play testing we realized that Adrenaline Rush is a necessary card for the combat rogue because it allows them to not only refill their field, but search for win conditions as well. As we began to make changes we realized that we had narrowed part of the deck down to two choices, play lots of weapons, or play answers to equipment hate. We chose to play 17 weapons in total, allowing us to deal with all of the equipment hate with more equipment. We also came to the realization that it would have a horrid match against smurf rush, so we added in a couple vanishes into the side. I have been babbling on about the deck so much, here is the final build that B-Twigg and I had put together.
Daspien Bladedancer
2 Cloak of Shadows
4 Surprise Attacks
2 Vanish
4 Sinister Strikes
2 Blade Dancing
3 Jackknife
3 Adrenaline Rush
3 Eye of Rend
4 Whispering Blade of Slaying
2 Eskhandar’s Collar
3 Felstriker
4 Perdition’s Blade
4 Striker’s Mark
2 Timeslicer
1 Predatory Gloves
2 Demonblood Eviscerator
4 A Warm Welcome
3 One Dranei’s Junk…
2 Orders from Lady Vashj
3 Counterattack
3 Solanian’s Belongings
Sideboard:
3 Vexmaster Nar’jo
1 Vanish
2 Cloak of Shadows
4 Purloin
Well as you may notice this is basically the normal Daspien build, although we did build it from start to finish, and the obvious inclusion of 3 Adrenaline Rushes. As I stated before, by playing so many weapons we hoped to mitigate any equipment destruction that the opponent may have. We also decided to run the Vanishes and Vexmasters to assist in controlling the amount of damage taken by opposing rush decks. I actually only used Felstriker’s effect one time during the whole day, but I do not remember what it was used on. Purloins seemed to answer basically every deck and were sided in almost every match.
After extensive play testing the week before the tournament, B-Twigg, Dane Young (Another team mate), and I had put this deck together completely, dissected its bad matches, learned what it is great against, and finally, learned how to play this deck perfectly. On turns 1 - 5 you want to be able to build up your weapons and equipments as fast as possible, while at the same time inflicting large amounts of damage on your opponent. During turns 5-9 you should be building up for the kill, which uses a combination of Adrenaline Rush, direct damage, and attacking.
It was two days before the tournament started, so Warren and I decided to meet up and choose decks for this upcoming tournament. I decided that this would be my best choice for the tournament because of the amazing matches that this deck has against most control decks. We went over some tech cards and he decided he was going to play the new undead assassination rogue. (He decided to change to Daspien right before the tournament).
On Friday as soon as my car had gotten out of the shop I headed over to Warren’s house to pick him up, and because I was very sick I let him drive the whole way there. I took some medicine Friday night hoping that I would get better for the tournament considering how bad I was feeling. Warren and I wake up Saturday morning and immediately I feel incredibly sick, but I knew I could not let the team down and stay in the hotel all day so I decided to tough it out and play in the tournament.
We headed over to the tournament scene after getting some breakfast, and I pulled out my Daspien deck and realize that I still have proxies in place of several of the cards and frantically ran around the room trying to gather the necessary cards to complete my deck. I eventually gathered all of the cards and began to write out the deck list when Chad wandered over and made a suggestion to turn 1 Solanian’s Belongings into one more A Warm Welcome, which turned out to be a great idea. After all had been said and done I felt very sick still, but I felt very good about my deck.
Please forgive me as I may have forgotten some of the games as I was sick as a dog the entire day.
Round 1 Pairings were posted and there was a stampede of players over to the pairing sheets.-
Anchorite Kalinna Control-
I came into this match not knowing what to expect, but I did see Chad sitting to the right of me, and eventually he told me the lady I was playing was new to the game. Game 1 I filled up the field with abilities and equipment, and quickly raced her down to no life. The next game went nearly the same and I won relatively quickly.
1-0 (2-0)
As people gradually finished their matches they wandered around the room and tried to figure out the key players, what decks were the strongest, and who would most likely win the tournament.
Round 2 Pairings were posted and I immediately knew this would be an interesting game.
Daspien Bladedancer (Warren Rena)-
Game 1 went by pretty quickly, with Warren dropping a turn 1 Ekshandar’s Claw and Surprise Attacks. I was dead by turn 5 with his flip for the final few points of damage. I knew this would get a little easier after side, and put in 4 Purloin, and 1 more Vanish. Game two I started, and played Purloin, removing one of his 3 equipments from the game. He then went on to play a resource, Eskhandar’s Claw and Surprise Attacks, leaving himself with 3 cards in hand, and giving me a huge advantage. I eventually went on to win the match with a combination of Sinister Strikes and Purloins, but this was definitely my hardest match of the day.
2-0, (2-1)
Round 3 Pairings
Lionar Control (Top 4’d)-
This kid came into the game expecting to win. He was a very good player for someone his age, but he was incredibly cocky. Game 1 started, I began and took the lead with swarming my weapons/equips/Surprise Attacks and eventually ended up finishing him off with Adrenaline Rush. Game 2 he sided in quite a few cards and I was expecting some more equipment hate right off the bat. We began the game and I started to pull out equipments and abilities quickly, but he Smashed, Punctured, and quickly pushed 20is damage onto my hero. I knew I had to win quickly or he would beat me this game by pushing through, but he did not draw into the needed smash to kill me and I killed him with my flip and attacking.
3-0 (2-0)
Round 4 Pairings
Runetusk - Derek St. Pierre (Brokentech / Restricted Idealist)
Immediately as I sat down against him I tried to solve the conflict that we had had over the forums the night before. He continued it some but eventually I talked him into agreeing to be civil about it. Eventually we started that match, and I had known since turn 1 that this match should not be too tough. He quickly began to discard my hand with turn 1 discard, turn 2 flip, turn 3 Mental Anguish, while I started to set up my field against him. I had continued to push on damage, and he just kept negating it with greater heals. Eventually, I was able to push through and kill him. We both side boarded a few cards, and I had put in 4 Purloin, which would allow me swing the match in my favor. In game 2 he had no turn 1, and I was able to Purloin him forcing him to discard his Bringer early on. We continued through the game and he continued to heal himself up, and dropped 3 Doshura Risestrider. He was unfortunately only able to mitigate the damage I was dealing for so long before I was able to kill him.
4-0 (2-0)
Round 5 Pairings
Nathadan- (Edward Duke)? Top 8
This guy was really fun to play against, unfortunately daddy judge had to go and ruin all of our fun at the top 3 tables. We finished shuffling up and we knew that this would be an interesting match no matter who won. We start out, I put a couple points of damage on him, but he started to Hammer lock me, forcing me to lose my early advantage. While locked down I built up my field presence and slowly put damage on him with Jackknife and Sinister Strike. He responded to these cards with Holy Shields, but it was too little too late, and I was able to flip the game in my favor and proceed to game 2. We both sided in some cards, I added in 2 Cloak of Shadows to help with the Hammers and Holy Shields. This game started out similar to the first game, but I was able to keep his Holy Shields and his Hammer of Justices down with Cloak of Shadows recursion. I did my best to win this game as quickly as possible, and eventually was able to bring him to 0 health after I used Felstriker’s effect to destroy one of his big allies.
5-0 (2-0)
Round 6 Pairings
Indalamar- Top 8
I came into this match honestly not knowing what to expect. I figured it must be sort of like the Lionar control build, but with Shield Slams and the like. We started off quickly, going back and forth, me filling up my field, and him sitting back dropping guys trying to get a firm foothold in the game. Eventually I was able to push all the way through and kill him. Game 2 he sided in a couple cards, and I put in some Purloins, and we shuffled up. He started out, but this game went similar to game one with me setting up my field quickly and him trying to gain control of the match. Once again I was able to break through and kill his hero with a mix of Sinister Strikes, direct attacks, and my flip.
6-0 (2-0)
Top 8 Pairings
Nathadan- Round 5 Opponent-
We were both excited to be top 8, but he was obviously unhappy to play me again after I 2-0ed him earlier in the day. So we started off with me playing stuff turn 1-4 and starting to deal damage. He started to draw a lot of cards, but on turn 7 or so he tried to use Blessing of Wisdom, and he said “Kill me” and so I shot him with Sinister Strikes for a free win. Game 2 started out the same, but he had not drawn much better. Fortunately he was able to keep me from killing him quickly, and we went back and forth as I was hammered down until turn 9 or so, when I was able to get through and finish him off.
7-0 (2-0)
Top 4 Pairings
Runetusk-
I was surprised to see a Runetusk deck had made it this far with all of the hate I had expected to see towards it. We started off, him making me discard basically my whole hand quickly. I was still able to get a weapon and a couple buffs out, which I was able to easily stack some damage on him with and draw a couple cards with. Both me being able to outdraw his discard, and him not drawing into a single Bringer was more than enough for me to be able to push through his Greater Heals and kill him. He knew the pressure was on him with this being his last chance to make the top 2 and be able to play off for a flight to worlds. We went into game 2, and I started off with an early Purloin. He had nothing for the first 2 turns, and I continued the beat down with weapons, and buffs. I was able to Purloin yet again and discard his Bringer of Death on turn 7. I continued to push damage through, but he just removed it all with Greater Heals. Soon he ran out of heals and protectors and I was able to kill him the turn directly after he ran out of heals.
8-0 (2-0)
Top 2 Pairings
Aleyah Dawnborn – Bryan Lyons (Blyons)
I went into this match basically 100% sure I had just gotten my flight to worlds. He did the same, but he had no idea how broken Adrenaline Rush is. We started off with me have a turn 1-4 drop, and pushing in around 10 damage. He then was able to hammer lock me for a while until I drew into a Cloak of Shadows and was able to recur it and push him to around 15 damage. Here I had been coughing so much the whole match that I gave Simon 1$ and asked him to grab me a soda as I had been sick the entire day. Eventually he was able to lock me down again and I was searching for an answer. I slowly was preparing for Adrenaline Rush madness as I held 2 in my hand for a while. On turn 13 or so I played Adrenaline Rush, 3 cards, another Adrenaline Rush, 2 cards, and my 3rd Adrenaline Rush. I was able to Sinister Strike him enough for an instant game win. We both sided in a few cards, with me obviously putting in Cloak of Shadows. We started off this game and I kept my hand after seeing 4 cards, A Warm Welcome, a weapon, Eye of Rend, and another weapon. This game started off with me pushing on some early damage pulling him to 13 or so by turn 5. I had negated his early hammer with Cloak of Shadows, but unfortunately he was able to hammer me without me being able to stop it. We went back and forth for a couple turns, and I had known he had a Lay on Hands for a couple turns. Around turn 11 or so I realized he was not going to play his Greench, allowing me to deck him out, so I went all out and played Adrenaline Rush, casted Jackknife on his hero and Xanata, and waited for him to do some quick math. After about 3 minutes of him adding he gave me his hand and said “Good Game”
9-0 (2-0)
After this I was so pumped at having gone 9-0 in the first Realm Championships. All the preparing that I had done with Brian Terwilliger, Dane Young, and Warren Rena paid off, I had emerged victorious with such a powerful deck. I cannot wait for the World Championships this year in Paris, France, and plan on working just as hard so that I may stand a chance at making Day 2 and bringing home some money. Please send any questions/comments to meggamann41 @yahoo.com.
Mitchell Snow
Captain of Team Smurf N’ Turf
Durotar Realm Champion
Tags: WoW TCG Realm Champs Report
Related to:
World of Warcraft TCG
