B/W Tokens for the New Meta

-Greg

First off: Our buddy Bryan Mohr who writes the Quick 'n' Toasted blog has made it to day two at the GP, playing a cool B/W Kithkin build. We definitely wish we were in Tacoma to cheer him on.

Also on our list of followers is an interesting fellow we met at PTQ. This guy is devoting his entire summer to MTG and roadtripping, hitting up every PTQ he can as he treks across the States with his vintage suitcase and pleasant demeanor. Defintely check out his blog, and look for him at venues near you!

Aaaaand, here's my new list for Black/White Tokens, updated with more of a control element than it had before. The resurgence of Faeries and the new Swan Cascade combo deck made it necessary to put the Scullers back in, and the mainboard Pithing Needles are a big help against nearly every deck floating around out there, even offering some help against Anathemancers on game one. Of course, in the hands of a B/R Aggro player, the 'Mancer is just a part of a borderline impotent machine, but the extra edge is definitely necessary for pre-board 5 Color Bloodbraid and Jund Ramp matches which use him much more effectively.

I cut the two main Wraths to make room for the Needles, but I'm still not totally sold on this idea. They're certainly useful in buying you time in matches against other token decks, but unless your opponent really overextends, then it's really likely that you've already lost the match. I feel like this is mostly a problem in the GW Tokens match, in which I'd rather have a fog effect for their attack, followed up by a Zealous Persecution attack on mine following. I usually side in Thoughtseize in this match, too, as their deck proves pretty powerless if you strip their Overruns and take out their Lieges. The Wraths are still there, 3 in the sideboard, as the ability to wipe an opponent's board clean is definitely useful.

I also picked up two Mirrorweaves, which I didn't have before for some reason. I love combat tricks, and have been dreaming of what it would be like to instant-up a full army of Rhox Warmonks...

Anyway, I'll be testing more when I can, and I'll update the blog as I go. This is probably the deck I'll be taking to the next four PTQs I attend, and any help you guys can provide with the changing meta and how to board against it is more than appreciated. Also, my summer class was canceled, so anyone wanting to playtest, just get in touch with me!

Main:

4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Cloudgoat Ranger
3 Murderous Redcap

4 Path to Exile (is Terror better?)
2 Zealous Persecution

4 Spectral Procession
4 Glorious Anthem
3 Ajani Goldmane
3 Bitterblossom
2 Pithing Needle

4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Fetid Heath
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Winkdbrisk Heights
2 Mutavault
3 Plains
3 Swamp

Sideboard:
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Identity Crisis
2 Batwing Brume
2 Story Circle
2 Runed Halo
3 Thoughtseize
3 Wrath of God

Regionals - SUCCESS

-Greg

Regionals was a great success for Team Barnabus!

CJ: Green/White Overrun - SECOND PLACE GOING TO NATIONALS HOLY SHIT
Phil: BR Aggro Demigod - 6-3, smashing all the mirror matches. He was the most successful BR Aggro of the day, landing in the top 10%-15% range.
Brenna: Boat Brew, 5-4, had a rough start, but pulled out amazing plays all day. After she warmed up, people were crowding around the table to watch her games.
Greg: 5CC, 3-3-3, tuned it to beat Faeries and BW Tokens and faced neither. Only human in existence to draw three games in a Regionals event.
Kimball: 4-5, was dropping jaws all day with his unexpected combination of cheap creatures and unstoppable enchantments.
Pete: UW Lark, had a positive record, and had possibly more fun than anyone at the entire event. I'm going to specifically request that Pete not take his medication on game days. :)
Sean: Had a string of rough matches, including one mandatory re-sleeve, but had a lot of luck testing a new Bloodbraid beats deck.
Tom: Tom's Naya Ramp seemed like a good deck, but Tom couldn't draw lands all day. Worst streak of luck I've ever seen.


Even though CJ was the man of the hour, I feel like we all could share in his win. It was his deck and playing that put him at the top, and we were glad to have been behind him the entire time. If anyone gets a chance, look for CJ (Charles Hendricks) in Adrian Sullivan's article this week at

This Saturday, we're all headed to PTQ at Pastimes in Niles, and I'll be posting our decklists here. I'll start with mine today, the infamous Black/White Tokens:


Kitchen Finks has been the shining star in every deck I've played for like six months, so I'm thinking of dropping one Cloudgoat Ranger (which I feel is a little underpowered) for the fourth Finks. Redcap seems necessary for board control, and he can accelerate my wins pretty well with direct damage if need be. I've been running 4 of the power cards in the deck, because they seem to be what makes it win: spectral, blossom, anthem, and now zealous persecution always feel like blowouts when they hit the board.

After talking to the guy that got first seat at Regionals, I was pretty sold on the deck. He said he started out just playtesting it so his buddies could get the match down, and ended up running it instead because it just decimated everything else. I have to agree with his assertion, as this thing is slaughtering every other deck Brenna and I can put on it. So anyway, here's the list as it is now, but it's definitely still being worked on:

Maindeck:
Critters:
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Cloudgoat Ranger
3 Murderous Redcap
3 Kitchen Finks

Spellz:
4 Spectral Procession
4 Bitterblossom
4 Glorious Anthem
4 Zealous Persecution
3 Path To Exile
3 Ajani Goldmane

Lands:
3 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Arcane Sanctum
3 Caves Of Koilos
4 Fetid Heath
2 Mutavault
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard:
3 Burrenton Forge-tender
3 Wispmare
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Identity Crisis
3 Wrath Of God
2 Terror

Brennalark - Take 2

-Greg

After some deliberation, Brenna and I have made some interesting changes to her Lark decklist. Brenna's pointed out the the Kitchen Finks are a little iffy on the aggro front, and can't be bought back with Lark, so they were an easy drop for us. Also, a lot of matches are going to be really tough with no board sweepers, especially none main, and enchantment removal could be a huge problem. Speed and tempo were also issues we were facing, specifically against aggro and control. I think the new list is a definite improvement (with a lot of help from Todd Anderson). The only problem is this list completely drops Smash to Smithereens, a card Brenna specifically requested we hang on to, and leaves her with basically no artifact removal. I'm thinking that since most people only play with one or two Needles, it won't be an issue because of how many bombs the deck packs.

3 Mogg Fanatic
3 Figure of Destiny
1 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Ranger of Eos
3 Reveillark
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Knights of Meadowgrain
1 Stillmoon Cavalier

4 Mind Stone
4 Ajani Vengeant
3 Wrath of God
4 Spectral Procession

3 Plains
4 Mountain
4 Jungle Shrine
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Windbrisk Heights

Sideboard:
4 Guttural Response
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Path to Exile
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Wispmare
1 Wrath of God

Regionals

-Greg

Regionals is right around the corner, and so I've been perusing decklists and scouring the new set for ideas. So far, it looks like I'll be running a 5CC variant, and Brenna will be running a pretty aggressive Boat Brew build. Twincast and Sanity Grinding stocks are depleted across the internet, so that will definitely be a deciding factor for our sideboards. I've seen a lot of B/R Aggro, which after some playing this weekend, I don't feel is that much of a threat to anything but Blue/White Lark and Faeries.


About Brenna's Lark deck:

Brenna has been playing a homebrew R/W midrange aggro for a while now, but even with the copious amounts of life-gain it can do, it still lacks the extra oomph required to take it all the way. As soon as she read the text on Lark, I knew from the look on her face that she'd be building a R/W Lark deck. We've been kicking some ideas around, and I'm leaning toward this list:

1 Stillmoon Cavalier
4 Figure of Destiny
3 Kitchn Finks
4 Knight of the Meadowgrain
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Murderous Redcap
3 Ranger of Eos
3 Reviellark
3 Siege-gang Commander

3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Mindstone
3 Spectral Procession

3 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Windbrisk Heights

4 Jungle Shrine

Sideboard:
2 Banefire
2 Wrath of God
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Forge-tender
4 Guttural Response

The sideboard is pretty easy to understand, but I'm not quite sold on it yet. Brenna hates it when her Figures are Pithing Needled - actually, she hates it so bad that she wants to not just remove the needle, but punish its owner. Smash to Smithereens is a perfect card for this attitude. Wrath is for hard to kill bastards, and could certainly fill Banefire's two slots to be a four-of.

Otherwise, the deck is a pretty standard Boat Brew build. It drops creatures from turn one, and it runs full throttle until the game is up. One notable exception is Knights of the Meadowgrain instead of Knight of the White Orchid. Brenna felt like the life-gain was more important than the ability to catch-up with lands, and it's the go-to card for her for any white deck. :)

Hopefully we'll be playtesting it this week!