After my last article, I got a few responses that they were disappointed in me leaving out a few classes. This includes the Rogue, Druid, and a couple of others. I'd like to take a moment to show off a few more decks for those classes that I left off, while also talking about the big players in this format that are not called [Twilight Citadel], why they're strong, and why it's surprising how little they are being talked about.

First up? Rogue. Man, did I completely give Rogue the cold shoulder. Probably because I thought they deserved it. Why would anyone want to play a Girdle deck that doesn't actually play Girdle? I'm talking about [Steal Steel], ie. “I hope you're a deck with [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] because if you're not, I guess these are probably a resource”.

Then I stumbled onto some different brews. One is my own, straight-forward in what it is doing and generally not bad at applying pressure. The other is a take on a deck that Banstylejbo on the wowtcg.com forums posted, with some modifications that I feel help move the deck along and also improve some of its harder matchups.

The key to this deck's success, in my opinion? [Revealing Strike].

Hero: [Bladesinger Alyssa]

Allies: 17

4 [Bronze Warden]

4 [Bronze Guardian]

3 [Obsidian Drudge]

3 [Obsidian Drakonid]

3 [Azure Drake]

Abilities: 21

4 [Fan of Knives]

4 [Revealing Strike]

4 [Sap]

4 [Daze]

3 [Steal Steel]

2 [To Arms!]

Equipment: 14

4 [Abomination Knuckles]

4 [Balanced Heartseeker]

3 [Venerable Mass of McGowen]

3 [Skinned Whelp Shoulders]

Locations: 4

4 [Twilight Citadel]

Quests: 4

4 [Challenge to the Black Flight]

This is one such deck where a [Revealing Strike] can end some matchups. You'll probably note that, unless you have a solid card-drawing option available to you, then it is easy for the game to become an attrition-war, where cards matter a ton. This Rogue preys on those decks. The 30+ ally aggro decks not only have problems with [Fan of Knives], but more specifically they cringe at [Revealing Strike]. As the quests in this format are so slow, people have been very willing to cut them in favor of Stash. A lot of those Stash cards are a specific card type that the deck usually contains a ton of copies of.

[Revealing Strike] takes advantage of this, often hitting their most relevant card type and forcing them to drop most, if not all, of their hand. Sure, sometimes it whiffs, but when it hits, it is very hard to lose. You not only take away their options, but you even know what they are doing on their next turn. What a kick in the teeth.

This Rogue also preys on allies with its cheap weapons. [Bladesinger Alyssa]'s flip is perfect for this, allowing you to blow through Protectors or control the field of threats while putting the opponent on a clock. Also, her flip is really cute with [Venerable Mass of McGowen].

For more grindy games against the Girdle decks, you have tons of 0-cost strike weapons, Drudges of your own to control their equipment, and the ability to use their Girdles against them to play the exact same game. The difference is that your flip can be bonkers when it is active, and it's not hard to keep their board under control the entire game. Basically, they better be Drudging your stuff, or they could face a two-turn clock via [To Arms!].

If you're looking for a more interesting and entertaining take on Rogue, then check this brew out instead.

Hero: [Edwin Blademark]

Allies: 20

4 [Bronze Warden]

4 [Azure Drake]

4 [Azure Magus]

4 [Azure Skyrazor]

4 [Arygos]

Abilities: 32

4 [Revealing Strike]

4 [Adrenaline Rush]

4 [Sap]

4 [Vicious Strike]

4 [Fan of Knives]

4 [Daze]

3 [Invigorate]

3 [Gouge]

2 [Carnage]

Quests: 8

4 [Dragon, Unchained]

4 [Mystery Goo]

This deck is less straight-forward than the previous one. The dream scenario is that you have [Arygos] in play, and then play out one or two more Dragonkin (including an [Azure Skyrazor]). Then, you play a cheaper [Adrenaline Rush], readying all of your resources and drawing you back to seven. You dump your hand of abilities, [Invigorate] after attacking with some of your now beefy allies thanks to [Azure Skyrazor]'s effect, and then keep going until the opponent is dead.

The trick here is that you don't need to “combo” off necessarily. Simply playing an [Adrenaline Rush] after you traded card for card with an opponent is often enough, as you'll find some allies to play or just go through a chunk of your deck if you did not want some of those cards. The trick is that the deck severely lacks in face-up resources, like many in the format, and therefore it is often that you are top-decking when you play [Adrenaline Rush]. This means getting more than one card's worth of value out of the Combat Rogue ability is profitable, but it also gives you the possibility of winning that turn too.

Again, it has a lot of tools needed to fend off aggro in this format. Even [Gouge], to get annoying [King Genn Greymane]s out of the way or to “kill” a [Vakus the Inferno]. There are a ton of one-cost abilities in this deck so it's possible you can win if you ready up with [Azure Skyrazor]. Which, honestly, you often do as that dragon's effect is insane.

The trick to winning against a Girdle deck is simple. They have little to no way to interact with your game-plan if you just keep their board clean. They have to immediately answer any of your four-cost Dragons, and you have ways to fend off their biggest cards whether it is a Master Hero, [Twilight's Hammer], or...well, okay, your answers against [Sinestra] and [Al'akir the Windlord] are soft, but nothing's perfect. Most other fatties are irrelevant either due to your hero's flip (you often win by just blowing through their Protectors with your allies), or they don't do anything the turn they come in.

Moving away from Rogue for a little bit, I wanted to talk about the other leather-wearing class of the format. Druid. While the Druid was top dog for a while in Worldbreaker Booster Draft, it is not quite at the same level in Block Constructed. I've worked on a couple of builds and simply wasn't happy with them. Some were too cutesy, and the more simplified versions felt underpowered compared to other classes which basically did the same thing but better (aggro decks, where I felt the clothies excelled at for reasons tied to things like [Searing Pain] and one of the cards I'll be talking about later).

That being said, I finally found one that I wasn't embarrassed with. It still needs a ton of tweaking, but it's a start.

Hero: [Jasmia, Nature's Chosen]

Allies: 40

4 [Bronze Guardian]

4 [Magni, the Mountain King]

4 [Parvink]

4 [Azure Drake]

4 [Azure Magus]

4 [King Genn Greymane]

4 [Windspeaker Nuvu]

4 [Pyromancer Davins]

4 [Xeris]

4 [Jarrod Gravon]

Abilities: 20

4 [Avatar of the Wild]

4 [Nature's Focus]

4 [Gift of the Earthmother]

4 [Mark of the Untamed]

4 [Energize]

Screw quests. Seriously. I'd rather just row the cards I don't want in certain matchups while taking advantage of Stash. If you're spending time questing with a deck like this, then you're probably losing. The card draw will be found instead in some of your three-drops, [Energize], and [Gift of the Earthmother].

Davins hasn't been too bad. I can reasonably be happy with playing him, his effect lets him attack for a ton, and his Stash isn't bad on a [Jarrod Gravon]. Jarrod is probably one of the best cards in the deck, as he has a huge ass with which to absorb hits from aggro allies, and his ready effect is obnoxious with a pump (it also makes exhaustion effects virtually worthless against him, in case [Hammer of Justice] or the like is ruining your day).

Could this deck be better? Of course it could. It's not even close to at its optimal form. I mean, who the hell tries to run a deck with no quests?

For the record, doing this has helped me see what cards I care about in specific matchups. If you want to know what you will ideally want to row in certain matchups, while also testing what works and what doesn't, I'd recommend trying this. You'll see very quickly where you value certain cards at once you realize what you don't want to play against certain decks.

The final deck I have for the day is the only class I have not looked at: Mage. The reason for this was because I hated Mage. Loathed it, even. I couldn't find a single reason why I would ever want to be a fragile, 25 health hero when I could be the “gee, all of my talent cards are bombs” Priest or the “my flips and removal are insane” Warlock.

Then, I moved into a slightly different approach. I looked at equipment. Sure, the other classes can use [Robe of the Waking Nightmare], but the Mage really took advantage of all of those Azure dragonkin with its cheap line-up of abilities. That sold me onto the idea, so I started tinkering and ended up with this after some games.

Hero: [Almia Moonwhisper]

Allies: 25

4 [Bronze Warden]

4 [Bronze Guardian]

4 [Azure Skyrazor]

4 [Azure Magus]

4 [Bronze Drakonid]

3 [Azure Drake]

2 [Soridormi]

Abilities: 19

4 [Fire Blast]

4 [Arcane Missiles]

4 [Arcane Foresight]

4 [Mana Agate]

3 [Arcane Barrage]

Equipment: 8

4 [Tattered Dreadmist Mantle]

4 [Robe of the Waking Nightmare]

Quests: 8

4 [Challenge to the Black Flight]

4 [Aessina's Miracle]

This deck plays one of two game-plans:

-Balls to the wall aggro where your guys are just bigger than their guys, and you have a ton of reach damage

-Slow grinding control involving your hero's flip, keeping an Arcane ally alive, where you build up a hand in which you go off in one turn with Azure Skyrazor, Azure Magus, and an assortment of one-cost abilities

Your mulligan condition, in almost every circumstance, is the [Robe of the Waking Nightmare]. Turning even Azure Drake into a 2/5 annoyance is huge. The [Azure Drake], as you may have noticed, is in each of these lists. It has quickly become a mainstay in these decks for not only healing your hero, but by being a nuisance against aggro decks as an attacking ally. When pumped by anything, it is big enough to remove most early allies from the field, while your abilities keep your squad fresh and healed.

While I do not enjoy this deck as much as the two Rogues I listed today, it is still something to toy with and has some potential in this format. Its cards are good enough to give it wins in a tournament, although some of the allies could still use some fine-tuning. Another Elusive arcane ally may be necessary, for example, with Almia's flip. That flip is the real deal, by the way. Getting it to trigger a few times in a game is huge, and it is also one way that you can try to compete against the Girdle decks.

With the allies being larger than average, you really get to see the strength of the Stash on [Tattered Dreadmist Mantle], which is one of the most powerful Stash effects in this format I think.

Which leads me to the next topic for today: some of the bigger players in this format. What cards are people not talking about? Let's go down the list.

[Tattered Dreadmist Mantle]

The best card nobody is talking about in Block Constructed? Possibly. I expected more people to be talking about a card that lets you take out one of their allies while keeping your own alive for no resource cost. Especially when that also didn't cost you a card. [Tattered Dreadmist Mantle] is one of those cards that I think a lot of people are keeping on the down-low for State Champs and Philly, hoping to blow players out with it at the big events.

It makes sense, since getting blown out by this card in an aggro on aggro matchup makes it very difficult to win. Be ready for this card, or be ready to use it in your aggro decks. Yes, I have also played it for damage prevention at times, and yes, it's also good at that.

[Wildlife Defender]

It has enough armor to help keep aggro decks at bay, a relevant effect that messes with people's attacks, and a good enough Stash to warrant its inclusion into the Girdle decks. Recurring your [Sinestra] or [Obsidian Drudge] is going to be very important, and this card is capable of doing so.

[Gispax the Mixologist]

Another one of the best cards nobody is talking about. Tim Batow made good use of this dude in the Core Constructed side events during Gen Con, where he was digging up [Squall Totem]s each and every turn or just accelerating into bombs like [Malfurion Stormrage] and [Al'akir the Windlord].

He does a great job of the latter in Block Constructed, and can also fetch up a singleton copy of [Ysera the Dreamer] if you go that route. With an assortment of awesome allies to search up (including “resources” such as [Sava'gin the Reckless] and [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]), it wouldn't be surprising to see Gispax in the format whatsoever.

[Devout Aurastone Hammer]

Another sleeper. It's starting to pick up steam, as a couple of online vendors have now added it to their buy list at a higher rate than the other available cards. It has a couple of subtle powers that are not as easily seen, such as enabling potentially two Bronze dragonkin effects in the same turn. This is important since the popular Bronze spread is [Bronze Guardian] and [Bronze Warden]. Exhausting out and then using the hammer to drop a free [Bronze Warden] into play may be one of the popular uses of this weapon, but its real strength is in accelerating out big fattie boom-booms like [Malfurion Stormrage]. Usually searched up through Gispax, which comes online a turn early if you play this on turn two.

Okay, I lied. I have one more deck for you. Hint: it uses two of the four cards I just talked about.

Hero: [Amah the Sun's Grace]

Master Hero: 1

1 [Ysera the Dreamer]

Allies: 34

4 [Gispax the Mixologist]

4 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]

3 [Sava'gin the Reckless]

4 [Bronze Warden]

4 [Grazzle Grubhook]

4 [Bronze Guardian]

2 [Kraxxus Chizzlecoin]

3 [Obsidian Drudge]

2 [Nefarian]

1 [Malfurion Stormrage]

1 [Al'Akir the Windlord]

2 [Emerald Tree Warden]

Abilities: 10

4 [Holy Shock]

3 [Holy Wrath]

3 [Vigil of the Light]

Equipment: 11

4 [Etched Dragonbone Girdle]

4 [Devout Aurastone Hammer]

3 [Repurposed Lava Dredger]

Locations: 4

4 [Twilight Citadel]

It's still a work-in-progress, but the deck has a ton of potential resource drops. Your mulligan condition is [Devout Aurastone Hammer], but the Lava Dredger also helps you accelerate and it better for the Ysera game-plan. Also, if you count all of the Stash, this deck has 20 ideal resources (not 21, as you actually want to play one of your heirloom weapons).

It's possible that, on the draw, you will get outrushed by the fire decks. But if you go first, you have an ideal advantage. It helps that Gispax is gigantic for his cost, making him hard for those decks to remove (which, if they don't, they're probably dead). Sava'gin helps alleviate this a bit by adding some dumb luck to your side, and giving you plenty of chances to randomly kill their allies. Your game-plan against them is to throw protectors in their way until you [Holy Wrath] their board, or if you can stick a [Malfurion Stormrage] to keep your protectors coming back.

Against other Girdle decks, you want to resolve one of your fatties and keep it around. [Nefarian] is good for this, although it is trumped by [Holy Wrath], so it's dependent on the plate class you are up against.

[Vigil of the Light] is the convenient backup plan for recurring some monsters. In case they take out one of your accelerated threats, you can bring it right back the very next turn, all the harder to kill thanks to the start of turn heal that the recursion ability provides.

That's all for today. State Championships are coming up, and in less than month DMF Philly will showcase this format. Remember, whatever is seen during the next month of Block Constructed tournaments will help shape what the new Core Constructed format will look like, so eyes will be eagerly waiting to see what comes out of the event and what will be big as Throne of Tides is released.

Be sure to post your thoughts on the format in the forums, and let us know how you do at the State Championship events!

-Mike

PS – Here's another take on Hunter from reader Jeri Brown of Tucson, Arizona.

Hero: [Huntsman Gorwal]

Allies: 34

4 [Garet Vice]

4 [Windspeaker Nuvu]

4 [Loriam Argos]

3 [Rolan Phoenix]

3 [Bella Wilder]

3 [Emerald Tree Warder]

2 [Zuur]

4 [Boomer]

3 [Tesla]

2 [Nag the Twisted]

2 [Loque]

Abilities: 12

3 [Favor of the Hunt]

4 [Aspect of the Wild]

3 [Widow Venom]

2 [Noxious Trap]

Equipment: 3

3 [Darkmoon Card : Hurricane]

Quest: 14

2 [The Mighty U'cha]

2 [The Torch of Retribution]

2 [Cleansing Witch Hill]

2 [The Essence of Enmity]

2 [Entrenched]

4 [Corrosion Prevention]