Hello to you!
I was inspired to build a new deck from several angles this week:
- Phyrexian Crusader seems incredibly well positioned in a format where Caw Blade, Boros, RUG and Valakut are using red and white removal.
- Jacob Van Lunen's article on evolving the event decks highlighted some interestng overlooked cards that seemed fun to play.
- I am about to head off on a trip to Australia, and wanted to play something fun before my month long break from Magic.
Fitting the Crusader into a UB control shell seemed a reasonable direction to take, and after a bit of last minute (read: lunchtime) brewing, I sleeved up the following for our Wednesday league night:
| Steve Deck Wins | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Inkmoth Nexus | 4 Preordain | 3 Flashfreeze |
| 4 Darkslick Shores | 3 Duress | 1 Inquisition of Kozilek |
| 4 Drowned Catacombs | 3 Mana Leak | 3 Spell Pierce |
| 4 Creeping Tar Pit | 2 Tumble Magnet | 2 Deathmark |
| 4 Island | 3 Jace Beleren | 3 Virulent Wound |
| 5 Swamp | 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor | 3 Doom Blade |
| 25 Lands | 1 Nim Deathmantle | 15 Sideboard Cards |
| 3 Corrupted Conscience | ||
| 4 Necropede | 2 Black Sun's Zenith | |
| 4 Phyrexian Crusader | 23 Other Spells | |
| 4 Phyrexian Vatmother | ||
| 12 Creatures | ||
Round 1 - RUG Control
Game one I kept a fairly solid looking hand, but stumbled on lands and wasn't able to get into the game against his Jace and Garruk. A Necropede (introduced as "my solid blocker") was the only indication I wasn't a mana-shy UB Control deck, and I avoided playing out a Vatmother when it was clear that it wouldn't be able to race an Inferno Titan. I sided out Necropede, Deathmantle and Zeniths for the extra discard and counter magic.
The second game went according to plan, an early discard spell and counter took care of most of his action and we played draw-go until he tapped out to resolve Inferno Titan again. "Looks bad," I said, untapping my lands and playing Corrupted Conscience, "...for you!" Sadly he had the Lightning Bolt to prevent the one hit Titan plus Nexus kill, but scooped the next turn after failing to draw an out. In the third, Jace and Phyrexian Crusader showed up for me to complete the turnaround.
Round 2 - Boros
I kept a 90/10 hand, knowing that against any aggro it was amazing, but weak to control:
I played a Tar Pit and passed the turn, while he lead with Arid Mesa, fetch Plains, Steppe Lynx. Ding! Ding! Ding!
In the second I had turn three Crusader, turn four Vatmother, turn five Crusader, and could pretty much ignore what his guys were doing while bashing for the win.
Round 3 - Boros
More of the same this round, except that I had to mulligan two one-landers and began extremely slowly. I eventually got two Phyrexian Crusaders into play at 11 life, while he had a Sword of Body and Mind equipped to a wolf token (I'd taken a hit from a Squadron Hawk rather than lose a Nexus to block). I swung both Crusaders into the wolf, losing one and putting him to 8 poison. He couldn't unequip the wolf without it dying now, and I had Inkmoth Nexus to chump any attack. My Crusader killed the wolf token next turn and then him. Fortunately he failed to draw a Lightning Bolt, Spikeshot Elder or Hero of Oxid Ridge in those two draws to win the game.
In the second I again had to mulligan, but it was my opponent's turn to be short of land. My Vatmother was able to capitalise, eating four of his guys while Nexus got in for some poison. I was able to Zenith his team, then use Crusader and Tumble Magnet to secure victory.
Round 4 - UWr Caw Blade
Early game one I am able follow his Stoneforge Mystic with a Duress to take the sword he searched up, then play a Crusader. He has a Jace though, followed by a Gideon Jura and Day of Judgment, while I fail to find any cards that interact with him.
Game two I keep the following hand:
This seems fine against his plan, and I play turn one Preordain, turn two Preordain, turn three Duress to take the sword he just tutored. He has two lands in play and reveals a hand of:
I'm not 100% about the choice to make here; I have a Vatmother and Crusader in hand to go with my Inkmoths, so I can put him on a quick clock. Unless he hits a land on his draw step he'll have to choose between Preordain or forging a sword next turn. I decide to stick to the plan and take Sword of Feast and Famine so he can't hold off my Vatmother, over the alternative plan of taking Preordain to stop him drawing into mana or Gideon to remove his best threat.
As it turns out he is able to draw land, land, Preordain for the fifth land, play Gideon, draw another Gideon to replace the first one then a Jace. I draw lands. How realistic.
I don't think the match-up with Caw Blade is that bad, but certainly Gideon Jura is a massive headache for this deck. The plan against them probably needs to change to involve more counters that stop Gideon, Jace and Day of Judgment and Vampire Hexmage to trump a resolved 'walker.
Notes on Individual Cards
As expected, this guy is a total house at the moment. The Boros decks have basically no outs besides trying to race him or block with wolves from Sword of Body and Mind. Against Caw Blade he is a quick clock, but suffers when having to attack into Gideon. Nim Deathmantle was my attempt to rectify this, boosting his power and providing resilience to Day of Judgment, but I didn't draw it in either of the games. I'd recommend testing this out before dumping it, but I could see it moving to the sideboard.
This is an odd card that never seemed that exciting to play, but always worried my opponents. I think some experience playing against it is required to fully appreciate the effect it has on the game. The drawback was negligible for me, but most game situations had Vatmother acting as The Abyss while Phyrexian Crusader and Inkmoth Nexus actually got in for damage.
The card is a first pick and I got to play three of them, how lucky! I lived the dream against RUG in round one. Putting it on any Titan is going to ask serious questions, but against Boros and Kuldotha red there are no real targets for it. The value against Caw Blade changes drastically depending on the build. Some lists have Baneslayer Angel which is basically the best possible target. Others don't play any real creatures bigger than 1/2. I think this wants to go down to a one-off main deck with more in the sideboard as appropriate.
I'm no Flores or Chapin, but if I were making a list of top ten cards in standard it would definitely include this card. It just gets even better with the dominance of Sword of Feast and Famine, effortlessly holding off equipped creatures, Gideon Jura, Celestial Collonade and Titans (not so much the blue one). When you want to go on the offensive it helps out at their end of turn, providing a turn of double tapping to force through lethal.
One the most interesting interactions in this deck is between BSZ and Necropede, where Zenith for one allows you to take out Stoneforge Mystic too. There's a lot of room for subtlety with this card and you will usually be able to come out of it with a much improved board position.
There is a weird dichotomy between these two cards, with Duress being radically better against some decks and Inquisition against others.
Versus Caw Blade you want to hit equipment, Day of Judgment and Planeswalkers, making Duress the choice. Against Boros you also want the equipment, but also their cheap creatures and occassionally burn spells, so Inquisition is far better. Against Valakut it is mostly a wash, since both cards hit their non-creature acceleration and Zeniths and neither can get Titan or Avenger. Duress can additionally hit Summoning Trap while Inquisition can get Lotus Cobra or Overgrown Battlement, but as our removal can also take care of the creatures Duress edges it for me.
I wouldn't mind having access to a few more copies in the deck just because of how useful the effect is against Caw Blade.
I think this is definitely a Doom Blade format rather than a Go for the Throat format. The number of Grave Titans is low, but plenty of people are playing Precursor Golem and Wurmcoil Engine. Besides, Corrupted Conscience seems a fine answer to Grave Titan in this deck as it is. I was happy with the speed and utility of Doom Blade as the primary removal spell.
I jammed this in the board at the last minute, wanting to try it out versus Lotus Cobra, Steppe Lynx, Plated Geopede, Squadron Hawk and Cunning Sparkmage. As it turns out, all of these creatures also die to Doom Blade and the incidental poison counter doesn't add enough value. They're nice to bear in mind if we need even more removal in the future.
Taking these lessons into account, if I were playing the deck again I would make the following changes:
| Steve Deck Wins | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Inkmoth Nexus | 4 Preordain | 3 Flashfreeze |
| 4 Darkslick Shores | 3 Duress | 3 Vampire Hexmage |
| 4 Drowned Catacombs | 1 Inquisition of Kozilek | 3 Doom Blade |
| 4 Creeping Tar Pit | 1 Deprive | 2 Spell Pierce |
| 4 Island | 3 Mana Leak | 2 Corrupted Conscience |
| 5 Swamp | 2 Tumble Magnet | 1 Inquisition of Kozilek |
| 25 Lands | 3 Jace Beleren | 1 Negate |
| 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor | 15 Sideboard Cards | |
| 4 Necropede | 1 Nim Deathmantle | |
| 4 Phyrexian Crusader | 1 Corrupted Conscience | |
| 4 Phyrexian Vatmother | 2 Black Sun's Zenith | |
| 12 Creatures | 23 Other Spells | |
Good luck if you try out this strategy and I'll see you... in the future!
Steve
