Darkmoon Faire Philadelphia is just two weeks away, and I am anxious to see the decks people come up with for this exciting new environment. More importantly, this article is intended to help give you, the newer player, a better understanding of how you might want to approach preparing for a bigger tournament such as a Darkmoon Faire.

First, we will need to figure out a gauntlet. A gauntlet is a series of decks that you expect to be at the tournament coming up. At a minimum, a gauntlet should have an aggro deck and a control deck. Most gauntlets that I have gone through in playtesting will have about 5 or 6 decks. The best approach to figuring out our gauntlet is asking other players what they feel the key decks are going to be and researching results from existing tournaments. Worldbreaker Block does not have many existing tournaments to look up for results, so we are kind of in the dark at the moment. I have asked around, and I keep hearing the same 2 comments. Be prepared for [Etched Dragonbone Girdle] decks and Shaman [Brogvi Stormvein] rush decks. Those are the only two things I have heard. What does this mean? It means that everyone is aware of these two types of decks, and they are performing well. It also means that in an unknown environment everything is possible, so there will be a lot of work in preparing.

So lets make a gauntlet. We will have 3 Etched Dragonbone Girdle decks. One for each of the classes that exists. One of the key end games that has been popping up in these decks is [Sinestra] followed up by a [Sha’lugdoom, the Axe of Unmaking]. Usually, this combination of popping things to make multiple Ferocity tokens then sacrificing them to the weapon ends games. Next we have Bragvi Stormstein rush, as well as red fire Shaman rush and red fire Warlock rush. These are the rush decks we want to be aware of to start with. Others will probably exist, but we need to have some idea of how fast the environment is. Personally, I have grown fond of the heirloom cards in the format, so my last deck will be a Priest heirloom deck which I will give a decklist for at the end. The last decks in each gauntlet will vary as it depends on what decks we think will have gotten stronger from the most recent set, or what some would call an x-factor deck.

Now that our gauntlet is set, we need to proxy up some decks and get results. The results will show us what decks are struggling, and it will show us, more importantly, the key plays of certain matchups. If we do not put in this time to understand a matchup, we might not realize that Stashing [Cairne, Earthmother’s Chosen] against Paladin is not a good move. Playing it turn six is very hard for them to deal with as it does not get answered by their [Holy Wrath] trying to clear our board. The point is these plays make all the difference when understanding a matchup.

We will start against the aggro decks in our first stage. We want to play about a dozen games to get a general idea of the matchup. Testing against aggro decks first will save us the most time because we can, usually, get results quicker, and the aggro decks tend to slim our choices of what deck to play drastically more than a control deck. If we can not find a deck that can handle the aggro decks then we should, probably, play an aggro deck modified against other aggro decks. If this is not to our liking then I would recommend modifying our deck to do better against an aggro deck. After throwing all of our decks at the aggro decks, our choice of what to play might be revealing itself. If not, don’t worry. Further stages of the gauntlet will help us see what deck to play.

The next stage of gauntlet testing is against combo decks. We need to see if we can answer the combos that exist out there. I would not be concerned about this stage for the current block as I do not see much combo existing. I could be wrong, but we always want to check for existing combo decks.

The third stage is always the longest. This is the time when we test against the control decks. Do not take this part lightly. If we can handle the control deck then we have a great deck choice on our hands. At this point in testing, if our deck is struggling we need to make some modifications to help out against the control matchup. This might be the point where we realize that we need to run [Abomination Knuckles] to answer their [Grim Campfire] or Etched Dragonbone Girdle. Once we are able to handle the control deck, we are in the home stretch.

The fourth stage is retesting the aggro decks. At this point, some changes should have been made to the deck to help matchups. We need to make sure that we can still beat the aggro decks. If we are struggling, then the tweaks for the control decks were hurting the aggro deck matchup. If we are handling the aggro decks still, then we have our deck.

Best of luck at your next tournament. Hopefully, you can make it out to a state championship near you. Remember a gauntlet can guide you to the right deck, but it is the key plays that will make the difference.

Here is my priest heirloom list below. Please do not consider this a deck that will be showing up in numbers as it does have problems against the aggro matchups. It is fun to play, and you will see that heirlooms can get out of control if not kept in check by Abomination Knuckles and other equipment hate.

Hero: [Olivia Demascas]

Allies: 28
4 [Jerrak Krandle]
3 [Terina Calin]
4 [Parvink]
4 [King Genn Greymane]
3 [Eranikus]
3 [Jessa the Lifebound]
4 [Magni, the Mountain King]
1 [Al’Akir the Windlord]
1 [Malfurion Stormrage]
1 [Amani Dragonhawk]

Abilities: 13
4 Divine Fury
3 Oppress
2 Leap of Faith
4 Shadow Word: Death

Equipment: 19
4 [Tattered Dreadmist Mask]
4 [Tattered Dreadmist Robe]
4 [Devout Aurastone Hammer]
4 [Dignified Headmaster’s Charge]
3 [Soul Casket]

-James Kandziolka