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DMF Los Angeles had just finished, and I was booted out of the tournament when I took a loss to the eventual winner Brad Watson in the first round of Top 16. This loss was a little hard to swallow as I was 10-0 against Brad in sanctioned matches beforehand. I don't know if it was the smug look on his face, or the bitter taste of defeat in my mouth but I wanted revenge. I figured that since Brad writes for The Metamart he would likely be attending the first event of the series in Phoenix.
I had to prepare if I wanted to beat Brad. To do so, I enlisted the “Deck Doctor” Dan Clark. Dan and I have been testing heavily against each other ever since he came to Las Vegas for our annual draft camp. The relationship has worked well, he comes up with the decks, and I'm the guy that plays the standard gauntlet decks so we could do some fine tuning. This time I let Dan take some time off and I came up with the new deck.
Dan despises playing with anyone's vanity card. Dan had an all Monster Harmonize deck, and refused to play [Vylokx] even though it would have been the best card in the deck. Dan is stubborn, but I knew if I built the right deck he would cave and play with a vanity card. I decided I really wanted to stick it in Dan, so I built a deck with [Timriv the Enforcer]. After completely destroying every deck he threw at me with Timriv, he caved in and said, "I'll play your stupid Mage deck as long as you sign my Timrivs".
Hero: [Zumix of Kezan]
Allies: 26
4 [Baxtan Herald of the Flame]
4 [Sava'gin the Reckless]
4 [Edwin Vancleef]
4 [Timriv the Enforcer]
2 [Vanessa Vancleef]
4 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]
4 [Mazu'kon]
Abilities: 23
3 [Flame Lance]
4 [Frost Blast]
4 [Overload]
4 [Mana Agate]
2 [Ripple]
4 [Ice Barrier]
2 [Shroud of the Archmage]
Equipment: 7
4 [Miniature Voodoo Mask]
3 [Bottled Knowledge]
Locations: 4
4 [Kor'kron Vanguard]
To say that Crown of the Heavens gave Mage a boost would be an understatement. This deck is only viable because of the new cards that Mage has to offer. Let's break down the deck.
[Zumix of Kezan]
When playing this deck you really have two choices: [Zumix of Kezan] or [Drazul the Molten]. [Zumix of Kezan]'s flip is key to combating the Priest ramp deck. Drawing two extra cards after you have to discard could mean the difference between a win and a loss. [Drazul the Molten] is probably the better hero overall because as soon as you gain control, you want to close out the game as quickly as possible because there are too many cards in this format that can swing the lead back to your opponent. I think that both heroes are fine choices, but I went with the card draw.
4 [Sava'gin the Reckless] & 4 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]
I think enough has been said about these allies. They are easily the best resources in Core right now, earning them both four spots each.
4 [Baxtan Herald of the Flame]
[Baxtan Herald of the Flame] is the reason to play Horde. Baxtan is your best weapon against the Grand Crusader decks because he will kill one to three cards on their side. Against opposing control decks he is straight up burn to their hero and a annoying threat they will need to deal with.
4 [Edwin Vancleef] & 2 [Vanessa Vancleef]
[Edwin Vancleef] and his tokens are in there to provide a cost efficient threat as well as set up amazing board sweeping plays with [Timriv the Enforcer]. [Edwin Vancleef] is so hard to kill already and when you add that to a deck that can protect him with efficient ally removal and counter abilities you have a nearly unstoppable ally. It should also be noted that Edwin is necessary to kill opposing Edwins.
The 2 [Vanessa Vancleef] were added to to increase the number of hard to kill allies, plus whenever you play her for free, you will be way ahead. She on her own is a very good ally that usually kills an ally whenever she comes into play.
4 [Timriv the Enforcer]
[Timriv the Enforcer] is the superstar of the deck. This deck has multiple ways to spread damage to multiple allies, so when [Timriv the Enforcer] hits the board your opponent will be devastated. The play I most often do with him is at the end of my opponent's turn 3 I will [Frost Blast] all their allies so I can make them start over on my turn 4.
4 [Mazu'kon]
[Mazu'kon] is still the king of the Horde decks. His ability to end games quickly makes him an easy four of.
3 [Flame Lance]
The most cost efficient removal ability for Mage. I considered playing four of them, but the fact is that you have so many ally targeted removal you just cannot play four of everything. This card shines the most against [Grand Crusader] decks, but is often one of the first cards to hit the row in other matchups.
4 [Frost Blast]
[Frost Blast] is one of the cards Mage has been wanting for a while now. The ability to stop opposing allies with Ferocity was a huge plus. It is cheap, it prevents damage, and it works too well with so many other cards in the deck. I have already mentioned how well it combos with [Timriv the Enforcer] but I should also mention it combos well with...
4 [Ice Barrier]
[Ice Barrier] is the best card in the deck. If you are able to keep the board clear on turns 1 and 2 and then drop this bad boy on turn 3, you are going to be very far ahead. With the lack of abilities that can heal a Mage, [Ice Barrier] plays an important role in saving some points of damage from the hero. We originally had three in the decklist, but changed to four as soon as we found out the new rule with prevention modifiers. If you get two of these in play, you will get to choose which one loses a counter, making them even harder to kill. This is a great offensive weapon and a great defensive object.
4 [Overload]
All the decks in Core are based around allies. This is the best answer to a lot of them, so playing less than four would be a mistake. Save those two resources for those opposing Edwins and Mazu'kons.
4 [Mana Agate]
The best card draw available to Mage. Easy four of.
2 [Ripple]
Another card that combos well with [Timriv the Enforcer]. This is also a great answer to Edwin as it kills all their Protectors. This ability is very good and should probably see its numbers increased. I found the Stash to be a good kicker, but rarely needed as the effect was there to trigger Timriv kills more than anything.
2 [Shroud of the Archmage]
The [Shroud of the Archmage] has so many abilities for one card. I found myself to be dealing 4 damage a lot more than any of the other abilities, but all three choices are very good.
4 [Miniature Voodoo Mask]
This is the card that really makes this deck playable. [Miniature Voodoo Mask] can completely shut down an opposing strategy, and for its cost it seems slightly overpowered. Against [Grand Crusader] you should always name [Grand Crusader] first and the second copy should land on [Bottled Light]. If you ever get two copies of this card out against them, they will be hard pressed to get through your removal and finish you off. Against other cloth wearer decks, you should name [Miniature Voodoo Mask]. The other important card if shuts off is [Devout Aurastone Hammer].
3 [Bottled Knowledge]
More card draw, but it is my least favorite card in the deck as it is a little slow.
4 [Kor'kron Vanguard]
We wanted another way to spread more damage out for Timriv. The best is when you have [Ice Barrier] in play and you can attack an opposing fatty, activate your [Kor'kron Vanguard], take no damage, and kill it off with Timriv.
The deck was our first attempt at getting control decks back into the Core metagame. The abilities can quickly gain you board control so your allies can finish them off. After playing the deck more, I feel that you can take out the [Bottled Knowledge] and one copy of the [Kor'kron Vanguard], but I do not know what I would want to replace those cards with yet. I think another copy of [Ripple] would be a good place to start.
The one last thing I wanted to talk about for the deck is some of the problems you will face. The biggest factor when deciding to play this deck or not is going to be whether or not you think you will face a weapon or armor based deck. The Mage deck has zero ways to kill either, so both are very problematic for you. If you expect to face a field where there will be a lot of either, I think you will find your time is best spent playing another deck.
The other main problem for the deck is Vancleef family. Untargetable is pain in the butt for this deck, so cards that can deal with both of these or any other Untargetable ally would be awesome.
Anyways back to my revenge. With deck in hand I was ready to destroy the evil Brad Watson. I sat there as I watched the finals of the Classic event where Dan and Brad faced off. These two, being degenerate gamblers, felt that the stakes were not high enough. Brad was the first one to want to up the ante.
Brad: Let's make things interesting, lets play for fingers. The loser of each game has to cut off a finger.
Dan: You've been hanging out with the Las Vegas idiots too long, how about if I win you shave your head.
Brad: Well, I'm losing my hair anyways. If you win I'll shave my head, but if I win you have to continue to grow that child molester looking facial hair AND I get to play your deck list tomorrow. My deck is atrocious and whatever you built is better than what I have.
At this point, Dan looks at me as if he was asking permission. I give him the godfather head nod of approval and say “Dan, get this guy a body bag”. Brad Watson proceeded to win the match in game three. I cannot root against someone playing the deck that I built, so I put my plan for revenge on hold.
Out of the five of us that played the deck, 3 of us made the top 8. Both Brad and I made it the farthest to 3rd/4th place. The deck is a lot of fun to play and you should try it if you are looking to spicy things up. I just insist that you taking my warnings of the decks pitfalls into account.
If you have questions of comments, feel free to post in the forums. I will try to answer as many of them as I can.
-Tim Rivera
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