Classroom X – First Look at Block

 

In Class today we begin looking at Block constructed. None of us players here in the middle of the United States are packing our bags for Hollywood so the next relevant format is Block for Pro Tour Qualifiers. We all realize that we probably will not attend any actual P T Q but we like to talk a good game. Wizards has now made Springfield MO a regular stop and that’s a pretty easy drive for us.

 

Shadowmoor has done a lot to create multiple possible decks with all that Hybrid running around we could easily have as wide open of a format as the current Extended. The crazy thing for us is when our local qualifiers happen. Wichita (4 hours) and Kansas City (2 and a half hours) are on back-to-back days, which really hurt our chances of attending both. Then the real kicker is Springfield (1hr) is the next weekend. That sounds cool until you look at the date. It’s the first day Eventide will be legal. That’s right no sound metagame. Trade like crazy at the pre-release. Pre-order via Fed-Ex any game changing card that comes out and pray you are right. Add to that our practice sessions are about to get limited with Summer Vacation.

 

The main deck we’re testing right now is mostly designed to abuse the Persist mechanic. We’ve been playing around with it since Andrew came in one Tuesday morning hollering about a 2 for 1 mechanic. It started pretty basic with an agro build that had every Persist creature in it. When another got spoiled we tried to fit it in. On the revealing of Twilight Shepard we started to narrow or choices and went with a Green White build. While we didn’t stay with build it was pretty cool to play an Austere Command when you have both Kitchen Finks and Heartmender in play.

 

The speed and limited targeted removal steered us away from White as we realized that a Firespout destroys about 75% of the creatures in this block. So if we convert to Red and Green as our base we add cheaper and more effective creature removal as well as the ability to slip Murderous Redcap into our scheme. This sidestep has been a breakthrough for our deck and has us all really focusing on it. Now all we need is a Gauntlet to test. That’s where we need you.

 

Apparently right now nobody wants to put a deck list out in the open. Many claim to be hiding their “tech” but really it’s because they don’t want to be bashed by the readers. So we’re asking you to submit a list to us for testing. Either post it in the comments section for this blog or email it to daneckstein@hotmail.com .

 

Here is our current list.

 

Persistent Fire

 

6 Forest

8 Mountain

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Fire-lit Thicket

 

4 Boggart Ram-Gang

4 Heartmender

4 Murderous Redcap

4 Safehold Elite

4 Kitchen Finks

 

2 Incendiary Command

4 Firespout

4 Flame Javelin

4 Lash Out

4 Tarfire

 

This list is unrefined right now. We realize that some of these 4 of’s only need 3. We are not really sold on Safehold Elite either. Some of the students really want to throw the Tattermunge Maniac in there instead. We also haven’t listed a Sideboard. In our previous classes we had readers ask for us to show side boarding in our game test part of the blog. We are going to accommodate them. Well sort of. Both decks will be able to side in any card they chose with a maximum of 8 cards.

 

Right now a sideboard would have a few pretty stock cards. Hurly-Burly is great against the Fae as it’s basically plays like a 1 sided Wrath of God. Raking Canopy is one of the best Anti Bitterblossom cards out there. Puncture Bolt is very cool against Persist if we need to fear the Mirror. We also might try to fit Chandra in their somewhere.

 

This week we are going to test against a Fae deck. The build actually came from a Standard list that top 8’ed at a recent tourney hosted by another site. We moved a couple of lands and had to drop Rune Snag from the list but here is what we are testing against today. (If you have a better list we would happily use it. Just send it to daneckstein@hotmail.com )

 

Fae Test Deck

 

2 Swamp

5 Island

4 Secluded Glen

2 Vivid Marsh

2 Vivid Creek

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Sunken Ruins

 

3 Vendilion Clique

2 Shriekmaw

3 Mistbind Clique

2 Pestermite

4 Scion of Oona

3 Sower of Temptation

4 Spellstutter Sprite

 

4 Nameless Inversion

4 Cryptic Command

4 Thoughtseize

 

4 Bitterblossom

 

Once again the sideboard is any card the Fae may want with a Max of 8 cards per game.

 

Hand 1 – Persist on play

Persist – Boggart Ram-Gang (2), Tarfire, Mountain, Firespout, Forest, Safehold Elite

Fae – Sower of Temptation, Vendilion Clique, Island, Cryptic Command, Vivid Creek, Spellstutter Sprite, Sunken Ruins

 

Turn 1 – Persist – Play Mountain

            Fae – Draw Secluded Glen, play Vivid Creek

 

Turn 2 – Persist – Draw Flame Javelin, play Forest, play Safehold Elite “Grrr I’m a bear”

            Fae – Draw Thoughtseize, Play Secluded Glen (revealing Sower), Play Thoughtseize (18) to remove Boggart Ram Gang. 

 

Turn 3 – Persist – Draw Forest, Play Forest, Play Ram Gang, attack (13)

            Fae – Draw Vendilion Clique, play Sunken Ruins.

 

Turn 4 – Persist – Draw Flame Javelin, (Fae flashes Vendilion Clique – puts Firespout on bottom and persist draws Kitchen Finks), play Tarfire on Clique, attack (8)

            Fae – Draw Thoughtseize, play Sower of Temptation taking control of Boggart Ram Gang, attack (no Blockers available – 17).

 

Turn 5 – Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, Play Thicket, Play Flame Javelin targeting Sower, get Ram gang back, attack (3)

            Fae – Draw Vivid Creek, Play Vivid Creek

 

Turn 6- Persist – Draw Lash Out, attack (Fae flashes Spellstutter to block Boggart Ram Gang), Play Lash Out targeting Sprite (Clash reveals – Heartmender vs. Vivid Marsh) (0)

 

Hand 2 – Fae on the play

 

Side boarding:

 

Fae - -4 Spellstuter Sprites, -2 Pestermite, +4 Faerie Trickery, +1 Sower of Temptation, +1 Vendillion Clique.

 

Persist - -4 Lash Out, -4 Safehold Elite, +4 Raking Canopy, +4 Hurly-Burly

 Fae – Sower of Temptation, Vivid Creek, Island (2), Bitterblossom, Faerie Trickery, Vendillion CliquePersist – Raking Canopy, Flame Javelin, Incendiary Command (2), Kitchen Finks, Fire Lit Thicket, Reflecting Pool 

Turn 1 – Fae – Play Vivid Creek

            Persist – Draw Firespout, Play Fire Lit Thicket

 

Turn 2 – Fae – Draw Faerie Trickery, Play Island, Play Bitterblossom (used counter off of Vivid Creek)

            Persist – Draw Forest, play Forest

 

Turn 3 – Fae – Create token (19), Draw Sunken Ruins, Play Ruins

            Persist – Draw Kitchen Finks, Play Raking Canopy (Fae counters with Trickery)

 

Turn 4 – Fae – Create Token (2- 18), Draw Sower of Temptation, Play Island, Attack (19)

            Persist – Draw Firespout, play Kitchen Finks (21)

 

Turn 5 – Fae – Create Token (3- 17), Draw Thoughtseize, play Thoughtseize (15) discarding Firespout, attack (19)

            Persist – Draw Mountain, play Mountain, attack (blocked by token – 2), Play Kitchen Finks (21)

 

Turn 6 – Fae – Create Token (3- 16), Draw Secluded Glen, Play Glen revealing Sower, Play Sower taking Kitchen Finks.

            Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, play Thicket, Play Incendiary Command choosing 2 damage to each creature and 4 damage to Fae, (0 tokens, Finks Pesist as 2/1’s, 25 life for Persist, 12 life for Fae).

 

Turn 7 – Fae – Create Token (1- 11), Draw Vivid Marsh, Play Vivid Marsh

            Persist – Draw Hurly Burly (Fae Flashes Vendillion Clique – puts Incendiary command on bottom – Persist draws Mountain), Play Mountain, Play Hurly Burly hitting fliers for 1, attack (7)

 

Turn 8 – Fae – Create Token (1 – 6), Draw Cryptic Command

            Persist – Draw Fire Lit Thicket, play Thicket, Attack (1 blocked – 4), Play Flame Javelin to Dome (Fae play Cryptic to counter and draw – Secluded Glen)

 

Turn 9 – Fae – Create Token (1- 3), Draw Vendilion Clique, Play Secluded Glen revealing Sower, play Sower taking Finks,

            Persist – Draw Murderous Redcap, Play Redcap (Fae Counters with Trickery), Play Firespout,

 

Turn 10 – Fae – Create Token (1- 2), Draw Cryptic Command

            Persist – Draw Tarfire, (Fae Flashes Vendillion Clique), play Tarfire in response, (Fae Counters with Cryptic Command and returns Bitterblossom to hand). “That was a cool exchange.

 

Turn 11 – Fae – Draw Nameless Inversion, attack with Clique and token (21).

            Persist – Draw Kitchen Finks, Play Finks (23)

 

Turn 12 – Fae – Draw Island, attack with Clique and token (19).

            Persist – Draw Hurly Burly, Play Hurly Burly targeting fliers, (Fae play Nameless on Finks – Persist trigger Finks to a 2/1 – life 21).

 

Turn 13 – Fae – Draw Scion of Oona, Play Scion

            Persist – Draw Murderous Redcap, Play Redcap damage to player –GG

 

Eckstein Notes – We discussed after the game that the bounce of Bitterblossom on turn 8 instead of the draw was probably the better play. To be fair the player did agonize on that decision for a while choosing to draw hoping for more answers. In retrospect the 2 life saved would have been lost to an attacking Redcap anyway. Fae’s next draw was another Bitterblossom and then a Sower of Temptation that would have been too late.

 

We are expecting many people to say that this list for the Fae isn’t the best. We would love to see your list. Just post it in the comments or send us an email. Daneckstein@hotmail.com . With this list the only real factor card has been the Mistbind Clique. The 4 toughness can become a real issue for red. That is one of the reasons we’ve thought of including Chandra.

 

Normally we would show you a third game here but since we are nearing our max word count we will just leave it until we have received a better Fae deck list. This one is a dominant match up for us.

 

Tags: Classroom X Fun Fae Persist