Hi! Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the blog, I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Roger Gregory, and I’m a 20 year college student from Monticello, KY. I play Magic at Collector’s Comics in Somerset, KY, where we usually have 8-20 person FNMs. I’ve played off and on casually since Rath cycle, and competitively since Kamigawa block (thank you, Jitte). My constructed rating generally stays over 1800, with my most notable finish being a top 4 at 2007 Kentucky Champs. My limited rating is positive, but not nearly as high. I consider myself a proficient sealed and draft player, but rarely find myself playing in limited events.
Today I would like to take a look at the Gw Aggro build my team and I have built with the release of Shadowmoor. I had been playing various green lists, including standard GB Elves, Elf Axe, and Fujita’s Elfball list (miles ahead of Bill Stark’s, IMO), so it seemed only natural to move to the powerful GW hybrid cards like the Wilt-Leaf Liege. I decided to move into heavier white to access Ajani and Oblivion Ring.
After initial testing we came to the conclusion that the elf base was no longer necessary and modified the build, removing Imperious Perfect and Wren’s Run Vanquisher to make room for Safehold Elite and Kitchen Finks. Finks is amazing for all the reasons everyone else has expounded upon, but the Elite may require a bit of explanation. They have great synergy with the Liege and Ajani, and fit the curve well when you have a turn one mana guy, turn two Treetop Village or after casting Garruk on turn three or four. We also added Shield of the Oversoul, because it nearly negates the traditional two for one risk of auras and many decks have very few, if any, outs against a Shielded guy. With that in mind, this is list I won two FNMs with and took to a Mox tournament at CM Games in Knoxville, TN.
23 Lands
4 Treetop Village
4 Brushland
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Wooded Bastion
1 Pendelhaven
1 Plains
7 Forest
25 Creatures
2 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Safehold Elite
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 Oversoul of Dusk
12 Other Spells
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Ajani Goldmane
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Shield of the Oversoul
In the first round I played against a guy known as R2 due to his alliterative initials. His deck appeared similar to mine at first glance. In game one he made bigger guys with 2 Lieges while I stumbled on mana and only had 1 Liege. Game 2 saw me get a blistering start and finish the game quickly. Game 3 showcased the differences of our decks as his black spells came out to play. His Dorans and Nameless Inversions wreaked havoc on my field, and he finished me off with a Profane Command. Round 2 I received a bye and got some amazing Japanese food from across the mall. Rounds 3 and 4 were uneventful, as I rolled over RDW and some form of GBU control that used Liliana Vess to grab Damnation both games, but my many persist guys and gassy hands fought through it easily. Round 5 was an ID to get me into the top 8 at 3-1-1. First round of the top 8 saw me again facing down R2, who utilized Profane to beat me 2-1 again.
While reflecting later with my teammates, we decided to work in the power of Doran and Profane Command, losing Ajani and a little mana consistency. We came up with this first draft.
23 Lands
4 Murmuring Bosk
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
3 Horizon Canopy
2 Wooded Bastion
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Treetop Village
1 Brushland
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Pendelhaven
25 Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Elves
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Oversoul of Dusk
12 Other Spells
4 Nameless Inversion
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Profane Command
2 Oblivion Ring
I want to play this, but I think I’m too eager to play the MGA list from the recent Star City Games tournament. In either case I’ll be back to report on FNM this week.
Please comment on both the decks and my writing, this is the first time I’ve done anything like this and could use the feedback. I’ll try to be a little more in-depth about sideboarding and take more notes on matches next time for sure.
rgregory87 at gmail dot com
Tags: Magic Standard Report
