A few weekends ago, the Metamart 5k event took place, and the results from Worlds suggest the best decks to play is [Grand Crusader]. Effectively beating this deck's cards is not exactly an easy feat. One thing appears certain in this format: you must turn allies sideways in the most beneficial way. One card going into this weekend appears very solid both in and against [Grand Crusader] and that card is [Kalam'ti]. At first glance the card seems very difficult feat to trigger. But being red and backed by the strongest one drops and best late game cards, I find it difficult to think the card cannot at least take out 2-3 allies against a GC deck.

I have made several compromises trying to find Kalam'ti a home. First I started with taking the no quest druid deck and turning it red. For those of you unfamiliar to the deck I am referring to, here it is:

Hero: [Leisha of Darnassus]

Allies: 36
4 [Garet Vice]
4 [Windspeaker Nuvu]
4 [Loriam Argos]
4 [Burly Berta]
4 [Jarrod Gravon]
4 [Stevrona Forgemender]
4 [Koeus]
4 [Magni, the Mountain King]
4 [Azure Skyrazor]

Abilities: 20
4 [Avatar of the Wild]
4 [Energize]
4 [Gift of the Earthmother]
4 [Mark of the Wild]
4 [Mark of the Untamed]

Equipment: 4
4 [Bottled Life]

Transforming the deck to red was rather easy: transfer Aberration allies to a fire based suite to trigger off [Gerwixicks] and then insert [Kalam'ti.] The only additional changes I made involved forcing in some [Verdant Boon]s to make a turn three Kalam'ti no joke against the very aggressive hands of GC.

Hero: [Fama'sin the Lifeseer]

Allies: 33
4 [Firewarden Wyland Kaslinth]
4 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]
4 [Azure Skyrazor]
4 [Onnekra Bloodfang]
4 [Gerwixicks]
4 [Rosalyne von Erantor]
3 [Tol'zin]
3 [Sava'gin the Reckless]
3 [Kalam'ti]

Abilities: 23
4 [Gift of the Earthmother]
4 [Verdant Boon]
4 [Mark of the Untamed]
4 [Energize]
4 [Avatar of the Wild]
3 [Mark of the Wild]

Equipment: 4
4 [Bottled Life]

Key Notes

• [Energize] and gift actually keep the deck drawing cards.

• [Azure Skyrazor] can pull some pretty insane plays.

• If you don't already know [Mazu'kon] does deal nature damage, HELLO [Mark of the Untamed].
  
  

Since I like comparing decklists aiming to do the same things I want to show you a list sent to me from Timm Trepanier, “The slow mage”.

Hero: [Drazul the Molten]

Allies: 32
4 [Mazu'kon]
4 [Cairne Earthmother's chosen]
4 [Baxton, Herald of the flame]
4 [Obsidian Drudge]
4 [Sava'gin the reckless]
4 [Lordann the bloodreaver]
4 [Tidal Elemental]
4 [Telor Sunsurge]

Abilities: 18
4 [Glacial tomb]
4 [polymorph]
4 [Counterspell]
3 [Arcane barrage]
3 [Mana shift]

Equipment: 4
4 [Bottled Knowledge]

Locations: 4
4 [Kor'kron Vanguard]

Quests: 2
2 [Far from the nest]

He asked for my honest opinion on the deck and whether or not it was viable for the upcoming 5k, as after the results from Worlds it seems that Counterspell could be a good game plan against GC. Unfortunately for Mage this interrupt is rather slow in the matchup if you are trying to prevent yourself from getting run over by small protectors. After some talk with Corey Burkhart earlier this format we both considered tempo Mage a possibility hiding in the shadows, but it wasn't until I put games in with the Druid that I thought it could be possible.

Timm's list in my eyes lacked a solid win condition or game plan for winning the game. After all, stealing some GCs is only going to get you so far.

But there seems to be room to make it worth the effort. Mage has access to [Azure Skyrazor] and we have seen lists in the past try to abuse the guy, but I want to use him differently. I think playing him after the deck has stabilized and making an effort to do a final push can really net some games out of nowhere.

I would like to say I didn't but the truth is I took Kalam'ti and Azure Skyrazor from the Druid, placed them into Mage, and found every way I could to increase synergy. I added [Fire Blast], [Glaciate], [Glacial tomb], and cut [Counterspell]. I personally don't believe the card will ever do what you need it to in this format, whereas I can Glacial Tomb or Polymorph any avatar tokens and steal any opposing abilities with Mana shift, which is a must have in 80% of the match-ups played.

So here's the list:

Hero: [Drazul the Molten]

Allies: 29
4 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]
3 [Baxtan, Herald of the Flame]
4 [Bronze Warden]
4 [Mazu'kon]
3 [Kalam'ti]
4 [Sava'gin the Reckless]
4 [Lordann the Bloodreaver]
3 [Azure Skyrazor]

Abilities: 23
3 [Polymorph]
3 [Mana Shift]
3 [Glacial Tomb]
3 [Ripple]
4 [Fire Blast]
3 [Arcane Barrage]
4 [Glaciate]

Equipment: 4
4 [Bottled Knowledge]

Locations: 4
4 [Kor'kron Vanguard]

[Glaciate]: This card is so good right now, from turn one to six I have found reasonable and needed times to play this card. It doesn't do as much as Glacial Tomb but it does immediately buy you time.

[Fire blast]: I actually laugh at how needed this card is right now, paying one to kill a card before it gets buffed by GC is one of the easiest ways to buy time until you Mana Shift the Paladin ability.

[Ripple]: Not only can this card deal with tokens on its own, but backed behind Kalam'ti you can wipe out a whole team of GC buffed allies.

[Azure Skyrazor]: This slot once belonged to [Corrupted Egg Shell] but due to the difficulty of keeping either the equipment or the ally in play right now, getting it to be worthwhile is nearly impossible. The transition to Skyrazor has pulled a few wins for me, as there are a total of 11 one cost abilities.

Druid v Mage: Winning games comes easy for the Druid, it gets there or it doesn't. The Mage plays slower but is more suiting to the control player's play style, although this play style shouldn't be encouraged right now. It is a control deck worth looking at and figuring out what it is doing right and wrong.

The upcoming format gives both of these decks an interesting twist, e-mail me at Kylermcginty@gmail.com and let's discuss it.

-Kyle