Rush to War
By Kevin LyThursday, December 18, 2008
Hello, and welcome to what I hope to be the first of many articles on a favorite subject of many Magic: The Gathering players worldwide- rogue and budget deckbuilding. This article not only serves to put the spotlight on rogue decks active in Standard, but to playtest them at a Friday Night Magic level and above. It also is intended to be a resource of deck ideas for people on a limited budget. The decks here will not absolutely demolish the next Pro Tour or reign with dominance reminiscent of Affinity. They are meant to be fun concoctions that have a good chance of winning Friday Night Magic. And without further ado, let us begin!
As I scanned the Tournament Center for ideas, I spotted one that really made the Timmy inside of me churn- GR Warriors. It was fast, it had explosive draws, and it smashed face so well that I couldn’t resist but boot up my Forbidden Program and, with a little help, slapping this list together-
// Lands
11x Forest
11x Mountain
// Creatures
4x Nettle Sentinel 1
4x Wild Nacatl 2
4x Rip-Clan Crasher 1
4x Bramblewood Paragon 2
4x Boggart Ram-Gang 5
4x Countryside Crusher 12
//Spells
4x Incinerate 3
4x Giantbaiting .40
3x Puncture Blast .75
3x Obsidian Battle-Axe 1.50
Nothing is particularly expensive about this list, bar Countryside Crusher who puts up the greatest cost at 12.00 for the set (all prices done by Starcitygames). The strategy is simple- smash your way to victory with powerful creatures backed up by tribal synergy and burn spells. There are a lot of neat synergies in this deck, including Countryside Crusher, who provides his own +1/+1 counters for the trample boost from Paragon, Giantbaiting and Nettle Sentinel to provide sudden bursts of ten or more damage, and other strategies that maximize damage output. Obsidian Battleaxe can get a warrior straight into the fray after a board wipe, while Boggart Ram-Gang and Rip-Clan Crasher bring their own haste to the party. Wild Nacatl takes advantage of our budget-minded manabase to be a 2/2 on his own, or a 3/3 Trample for G with a Paragon.
Total Cost- $28.65, not bad at all. On to the testing fields!
Game One- GR Warriors vs. RDW
Game one starts and I square my jaw as I face my opponent. I win the die roll and although I have no choice but to mulligan a bad first hand, my next hand makes my jaw drop. Two Forest and a Mountain with triple Boggart Ram-Gang certainly is worth a run. My opponent keeps his opening grip of seven, and the game begins.Turn 1- GR Warriors: 20 RDW: 20 My first turn is rather uneventful. I simply play a Mountain and pass. His turn is a bit more threatening when he plays a Mountain and a Figure of Destiny. However, it’s a dead giveaway that my opponent is playing RDW and I brace myself for a brutal race.
Turn 2- GR Warriors: 18 RDW: 20 I draw a Bramblewood Paragon and grin to myself. If I can manage to get a Paragon to stick then the triple Ram-Gang will put the match more than in my favor. A deck can only take so many 4/4 Haste Trample creatures, right? Unperturbed by the Paragon he swings with Figure of Destiny, leaving one mana open off his Mountain to pump. I don’t fall for his bait, but he scores first blood and drops me to 18. On his second main phase he chooses to play a Mountain and Mogg Fanatic go give himself more board presence, but to me it only sends a signal of relief- my Paragon has made it through the turn unscathed.
Turn 3- GR Warriors: 17 RDW: 16 I play my third land, a Forest, and my first Boggart Ram-Gang and swing. He doesn’t block and goes down to 16, and I pass the rest. On his turn he simply plays another Mountain and swings with Mogg Fanatic to try and bait out my Paragon. I don’t block, and go down to 17.
Turn 4- GR Warriors: 17 RDW: 12 Although I don’t have another land it doesn’t matter at this point, and I drop another Ram-Gang before going into the red zone with two of them. He blocks one with Figure of Destiny, pumping it to a 4/4 to trade, and takes four. On his turn he scrambles for defense and plays a Mountain followed by a Stigma Lasher and a replacement Figure with no swings. This is a good sign that he’s on the back foot and I now have the initiative.
Turn 5- GR Warriors: 17 RDW: 9, Scoop! Still not caring about that land drop, I take a more cautious route and play a Rip-Clan Crasher, holding back the third Ram-Gang in case a massive trade war erupts. I swing with my single Ram Gang backed up by a Crasher and he blocks the Ram Gang with his Stigma Lasher and Mogg Fanatic, choosing to sacrifice the Fanatic with combat damage on the stack to take down them Ram-Gang. On my second main phase I reinforce my diminished forces with a Wild Nacatl and pass the rest of my turn. On his turn he draws, plays a land and considers his options before conceding.
Record- 1-0-0 Props- Wow! Explosive from start to finish, missing the one drop wasn’t a problem as Paragon fueled powerful warrior after warrior to grind the opponent down. Slops- No burn from the opponent on the Paragon is probably what created the disparity, and triple Ram-Gang isn’t a hand I can expect every time.
Game Two- GR Warriors vs. GW Elfball
I lose the die roll but still hope to be on the front foot. I keep a strong opening hand with two Mountains, a Forest, an Incinerate, and Nettle Sentinel, Bramblewood Paragon, and Rip-Clan Crasher as my creatures.Turn 1- GR Warriors: 20 GW Elfball: 20 His first turn is just a Forest and a Heritage druid, which sends off alarm bells in my head. From my previous experiences playing against Elfball I know that it’s explosive and can really clog the board and end the game in a hurry. I reply with a Forest of my own and a Nettle Sentinel.
Turn 2- GR Warriors: 20 GW Elfball: 18 He plays a Windbrisk Heights and I hope that it’s not Coat of Arms he’s found waiting for him. No other elves from him is a surprise but when it goes to my turn I take the initiative and swing with my Nettle Sentinel, dealing two, and then play a Mountain and a Bramblewood Paragon on my second main phase. All good so far!
Turn 3- GR Warriors: 20 GW Elfball: 6 He plays a Brushland and passes, rousing some suspicion from me. Elfball normally has at least a few elves on the board by now, so when it comes to my turn and I draw Giantbaiting I consider the following. If I play Giantbaiting, conspiring and untapping my Sentinel, I can swing for a massive 12 and get the upper hand. The Incinerate in my hand says that maybe I should try to fizzle his combo before going in for the kill by burning out his Heritage Druid. In the end I go for the former and slap down a Giantbaiting and swing. He doesn’t block and plays Gilt-Leaf Ambush at the end of my turn; we both reveal lands and place them on the bottom of our decks.
Turn 4- GR Warriors: 20 GW Elfball: 0 His turn finally gives a bit of an explosion. He first taps his Heritage Druid and two Elf tokens for three green mana, taps his Brushland for colorless, and plays Hunting Triad to net three more Elves and thus three more mana. He taps these Elves to make a Nettle Sentinel and a Devoted Druid and passes the rest with a Forest and his Windbrisk still open. My draw is a Boggart-Ram Gang, but I choose to play a Forest instead and a Rip-Clan Crasher before swinging with everything. He blocks his Devoted Druid to my Bramblewood Paragon and our Nettle Sentinels trade, and he takes 3. An Incinerate from my second main phase ends the game.
Record-2-0-0 Props- Giantbaiting made for such a massive swing, and it really shows how this deck can end the game in a hurry. Having a Ram-Gang in reserve really made that game better, and in the end the powerful Warriors hacked and slashed their way through a sea of Elves to the win. Slops- My opponent didn’t get as explosive a draw as he could have. If he had, I would have been adrift in a sea of Elves from start to finish and certainly wouldn’t have been able to punch through for as much damage as I did.
Game Three- GR Warriors vs. Neo Mannequin
Another loss of the die roll, but my opponent has to mulligan. I take this as an opportunity to punish with another fast draw and keep my opening seven.Turn 1- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 20 Our first turn is relatively uneventful, seeing a Faerie Conclave from him and a Mountain from me. At first I thought it was Faeries, but I would be proven dead wrong.
Turn 2- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 20 The second turn sees only a Plains from him, signaling either a strange build of Esper Fae or a completely different deck altogether. I play a Forest on my turn and reflect on the consequences of having the Bramblewood Paragon in my hand countered. I choose to go for it anyways, and I’m rewarded by having a reluctant “Go,” from my opponent.
Turn 3- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 14 An Arcane Sanctum tells me that this must be a terrible draw for Fae or that it’s control. Either way on my turn I go for the aggressive route to immediately pressure my opponent and play a Forest followed by Boggart Ram-Gang, swinging for six. The life totals and the board position are now in my favor, and I hope for a quick conclusion.
Turn 4- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 14 A Plains drops and then the final hint that it isn’t Fae I’m dealing with hits the board- Wrath of God. I send my Paragon and Ram-Gang to the graveyard, and on my turn I take the opportunity to play a Mountain and an Obsidian Battleaxe, which will make any creature I play post-Wrath even more explosive.
Turn 5- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 8 A Mystic Gate and my opponent passes the rest of his turn. On my turn I play a Mountain and then play Bramblewood Paragon. When he lets it pass I attach the Battleaxe and then play Countryside Crusher, hoping to lure out a Cryptic Command or any other lurking counters. When none is forthcoming I attach the Battleaxe to my Crusher as he resolves and swing for six. Now the game is more than ever in my favor.
Turn 6- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 3 Another Arcane Sanctum hits the board, followed by another Wrath of God to keep my board clean. This time I’m not so sad to see my creatures go because of the Battleaxe, and on my turn I play a Countryside Crusher, attaching the Axe, and swing for five to put my opponent within burn range.
Turn 7- GR Warriors: 20 Neo Mannequin: 0 A Swamp followed by Oona, Queen of the Fae, is all the defenses my opponent can muster. I reveal a Rip-Clan Crasher immediately, meaning no counters for my Crusher, but I play it and attach the Axe, swinging for lethal as Oona can only block a single Warrior.
Record-3-0-0 Props- Battleaxe is amazing post-Wrath. Any warrior can get straight into the fray and mix it up, and it ultimately gave me the reach needed to end the game. Slops- My opponent had no Cryptics and my spells went unchallenged by counters. Oona didn’t help out, and having multiple Warriors to continuously fuel my Battleaxe isn’t something I can always rely on.
Game Four- GR Warriors vs. Cat in Hat Surprise
Another lost die roll makes me a sad panda. Both sides keep the opening grip, and this game is fast and furious.Turn 1- GR Warriors: 20 Cat in Hat: 20 Our first turn consists of jam packed action in the form of Murmuring Bosk from my opponent and a Forest from me.
Turn 2- GR Warriors: 20 Cat in Hat: 18 His second turn he plays a Plains and then Nightsky Mimic to start populating his board. My turn consists of a Mountain and a Rip-Clan Crasher and I immediately swing. He doesn’t block and first blood is mine.
Turn 3- GR Warriors: 16 Cat in Hat: 12 A Llanowar Wastes followed by a Tidehollow Sculler, taking 1 from his pain-land, to take an Incinerate out of my hand is his play, and he swings for 4 with his Nightsky Mimic. I reply with a Forest and a Boggart Ram-Gang and swing with everything, taking him to 12. The real race begins now.
Turn 4- GR Warriors: 5 Cat in Hat: 11 Another Llanowar Wastes joins his assorted lands, and an Oblivion Ring follows shortly, pulling my Boggart Ram-Gang off the board. Then an Edge of Divinity is placed on a Tidehollow Sculler, paying 1 off a pain-land, and he swings for a massive 9. Things aren’t looking good! I’m forced to play defensively, and my own turn is a Mountain and a Nettle Sentinel.
Turn 5- GR Warriors: 1 Cat in Hat: 10 While he has no land to play this turn he certainly has the power, playing Doran, the Siege Tower, taking another 1 from his Wastes, and then swings. While I can’t block the Mimic I choose to block the Sculler with my Nettle Sentinel and cast a Puncture Blast, killing it and getting my Incinerate back. On my turn I have no impressive land drop either, and just play a Countryside Crusher.
Turn 6- GR Warriors: 0 Cat in Hat: 10 A Fetid Heath followed by a Nip Gwyllion to make the Mimic airborne seals up the game for Cat in Hat Surprise. Should I have had a land drop I might have been able to cling on just barely by Incinerating the Mimic with its ability on the stack, but a comeback wouldn’t have been feasible at this point. GR Warriors meets with its first loss, and I congratulate my opponent on a great game.
Record-3-1-0 Props- Even on the back foot a tough fight was given up. A strong draw from Cat in Hat did me in, but after reviewing the game with my opponent we decided it would have been much different had the die roll been the other way around. Slops- Absolutely stomped by a fast draw from the opponent, I got kicked in the mental groin. Cat in Hat is speedy, and Warriors had a poor showing. While our own draw was fast and strong, it simply couldn’t match the power of Cat in Hat.
Game Five- GR Warriors vs. Bant Crashers
Finally we win a die roll! We keep our opening grip of seven as does our opponent, and although we’re coming fresh off a loss we hope to keep our strong record alive.Turn 1- GR Warriors: 20 Bant Crashers: 20 Our first turns are uneventful, with a Forest from me and a Seaside Citadel from my opponent. Still, at first I thought I was going to have to play another control matchup. Once again my prediction was wrong.
Turn 2- GR Warriors: 20 Bant Crashers: 20 The first creatures hit the board as I play a Mountain and a Bramblewood Paragon while my opponent plays another Seaside Citadel and an Akrasan Squire. Now I know I’m playing against Bant Crashers and I hope to outrace them with sheer power.
Turn 3- GR Warriors: 18 Bant Crashers: 18 My turn isn’t the explosion of force I’d hoped it’d be. Instead I swing with my Paragon, which he doesn’t block, and drop him to 18. I then play a Forest and past the rest. On his own turn he plays a Forest and a Cold-Eyed Selkie and swings for two with his Akrasan Squire to match up the life totals. I really wish I’d had a Boggart Ram-Gang or even just a Wild Nacatl to reinforce my board.
Turn 4- GR Warriors: 13 Bant Crashers: 12 I play a Mountain and follow up with Giantbaiting. Disappointingly I don’t have another Warrior to conspire for a massive 10 and instead use the singular Giant token alongside my Paragon to swing for a still powerful 6. My opponents turn is far more impressive as he plays a Reflecting Pool and then an Elspeth, Knight Errant. Elspeth pumps the Cold-Eyed Selkie to a 4/4 with Flying and then he attacks, the Exalted bonus from Akrasan Squire making it a 5/5, and I drop to 13 and he draws a massive five cards! At the end of his turn he is forced to discard two cards and throws away a Seaside Citadel and Birds of Paradise.
Turn 5- GR Warriors: 7 Bant Crashers: 10 I play another Mountain and a second Bramblewood Paragon to increase my forces before swinging for two. On his turn he plays another Reflecting Pool followed by Rafiq of the Many. When Elspeth tries to pump Cold-Eyed Selkie for some truly massive damage I Incinerate it, but still take 6 when he chooses to swing with his Akrasan Squire.
Turn 6- GR Warriors: 7 Bant Crashers: 7 I play a Mountain and a Wild Nacatl who receives two counters before swinging with my second Paragon for 3. On his turn he plays a Wooded Bastion and attempts to go for a pump on Rafiq with Elspeth to end the game. Puncture Blast ends any hope of that and he plays Cold-Eyed Selkie and passes the turn.
Turn 7- GR Warriors: 7 Bant Crashers: 0 On my turn I play a Countryside Crusher, and then consider the board. He controls an Akrasan Squire and a Cold-Eyed Selkie with enough mana open for both Condemn and Bant Charm. If I swing now I can end the game, but if I’m wrong then I’ll lose, especially if he’s holding a Rafiq of the Many or a Loxodon Warhammer. It doesn’t help that he drew a lot of cards previously, so these situations aren’t out of the question. Deciding I have nothing to lose by moving forward that I wouldn’t lose anyways by holding back I swing and he scoops, his bluff failing to deter my army. We congratulate each other on a good game and take a look at our hands- there was little he could do, having run out of bombs just last turn. It turned out that his Selkie had drawn him Rafiq, another Selkie, and three lands, and he had been hoping to lock up the game quickly.
Record- 4-1-0 Props- A drawn out game is helped out immensely by burn. I would have been dead a long while ago if not for Incinerate and Puncture Blast to keep his board relatively clean. Double Bramblewood Paragon makes my creatures huge. Overall it was a close match with both sides having the potential to win. Slops- If he was holding more removal I would have been in a hole. Burn let me hold on by the skin of my teeth, and if he hadn’t been bluffing I would have lost.
Game Six- GR Warriors vs. Reveillark Control Another won die roll and a good opening grip might mean a winning game. My opponent also keeps his opening seven, promising to do his best to take the win.
Turn 1- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 20 As usual our first turns aren’t too much to get excited about. I play a Forest and he plays a Vivid Creek.
Turn 2- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 18 My next turn is much more promising, with a Mountain followed by a Rip-Clan Crasher to take a pair of life points off his hands. On his turn he makes a play of his own with an Island and a Merfolk Looter.
Turn 3- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 16 This turn I swing before casting any spells and he doesn’t block, taking another 2 and going down to 16. Then, on my second main phase, I play a Forest and an Obsidian Battleaxe. At the end of my turn he cycles a Mulldrifter into the graveyard with his Merfolk Looter. On his turn he plays a Reflecting Pool and passes.
Turn 4- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 16 I play a Mountain and then attach the Battleaxe manually to my Rip-Clan Crasher and swing, hopeful for another big chunk of his life total. Instead he plays Boomerang on my Crasher and my dreams come crashing down. At the end of my turn he cycles another card with Looter, dumping an Island into his graveyard. On his own turn he plays an Adarkar Wastes and passes.
Turn 5- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 16 I first play a Mountain and go for a Rip-Clan Crasher, which eats a Cryptic Command. He deliberates on choosing which effects to utilize, ultimately settling on drawing a card, at which I silently pump a fist. I follow up with a Countryside Crusher, attaching the previously played Battleaxe, and swing. He blocks with his Merfolk Looter and activates it one last time, dumping a Plain. On his turn he plays a Mystic Gate and finally the namesake of his deck hits the board- Reveillark.
v Turn 6- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 7 On my turn I reveal a Bramblewood Paragon off the top and play it before following up with a Giantbaiting with conspire. I attach a Battleaxe to one of the Giant Warrior tokens and swing with them. He blocks one with his Reveillark and takes 9, choosing to return Mulldrifter and Merfolk Looter. On his own turn he chooses to play an Island and Ponder before passing the rest.Turn 7- GR Warriors: 20 Reveillark: 3 (Concession) I systematically reveal four lands off the top of my deck and my Countryside Crusher eats it all up to become a massive 7/7. The non-land card revealed is a Boggart Ram-Gang, and I play it and attach the Battleaxe. When I swing he casts Boomerang on my Countryside Crusher and blocks the Ram-Gang, taking four, and then he cycles a Sower of Temptation into his graveyard with Merfok Looter. When his turn rolls around he considers the board for a few minutes before scooping.
Record-5-1-0 Props- Battleaxe and Bramblewood Paragon keep the beats coming. A massive Giantbaiting puts him at a low enough life total for a quick victory, and despite seeing no burn the big, hasty warriors are enough to seal up the game. Slops- Not having a first turn play was a bit annoying. If he had wiped the board I might have been in a bit of a pickle, particularly since if my Crusher wasn’t around then I would have been drawing lands for a few turns. Overall a good match!
With only a single game loss, GR Warriors definitely looks strong. It’s a fun, powerful deck where churning out huge creatures that get to swing right away is more than a possibility, and has plenty of ways to win by turn four unopposed. I really enjoyed playing this list because of the burn combined with extremely powerful creature synergies. However, for those with a larger budget, consider the following-
For a Larger Budget
Chameleon Colossus- Although you have to remove Countryside Crusher to play Chameleon Colossus, there’s no discounting the fact that it’s a 4/4 Warrior for 2GG that can be a 5/5 with Bramblewood Paragon. A 10/10 Trample is nothing to sneeze at, especially with invulnerability to Unmake and the like.
Fire-Lit Thicket, Karplusan Forest- Although mana was not a problem, you can ensure it never will be with these dual lands. You may want to consider Twinblade Slasher if you change up the mana base, as Wild Nacatl definitely wants it to be basic heavy. This helps a lot with casting spells like Flame Javelin or Countryside Crusher and still having reliable sources of green for your lifeblood like Bramblewood Paragon.
Sarkhan Vol- Giving your warriors a temporary pump and ensuring everything has haste is nice. Sometimes there’s a pesky Rhox War Monk in the way that’ll mess up your combat math, and Sarkhan Vol can fix that too. Finally, his ultimate is amazing post-Wrath and can completely seal up games.
Overall I found GR Warriors an interesting deck, and I hope you do too! I’d like to thank David Koretsky for being a wonderful playtesting partner with a great range of decks, and for helping me bring this article to you. Until next time, enjoy smashing face with conspired Giantbaiting.
-Kevin Ly