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Scott Landis

I am just getting home from The Metamart 3k in Phoenix and, and boy, let me tell you, it was a grand event. It ran incredibly smooth and both the main and side events were chock full of high level players and competition. As I predicted, the number one card from Crown of the Heavens to make an impact on both Classic Constructed and Core Constructed was Miniature Voodoo Mask, as most of the Top 8 decks in both formats featured the powerful trinket. Although I think it is dangerous to glean too much information this early on about future Realm Championship metagames, especially in light of the fact that I consider The Metamart games to be a “winner's metagame” (a concept I will discuss next week), there was a lot to take from the event.

Personally after not doing well in the Classic event I decided to play the Core/Draft Crown of the Heavens playset event (the winner getting a full playset of cards from the new expansion). I am not one for writing actual tournament reports, but I was really excited to share my Core deck. I will save the suspense and mention that I won the event, after going 6-0 in Core and then drafting the 3-0 deck. I went on to change a few cards for the Sunday Core event (another spoiler, 12^th place) but kept the main part of the deck intact. So how did this all come about?

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
-Arthur C. Clarke

Well, it's easy to say that ever since the rotation of my favorite interrupts, most of which are named “Nether XYZ,” I have been looking for ways to bring Mage back to the ranks of playability. As I stated in my first Crowns set preview, I was very impressed with the answers to the format Mages seemed to receive in Overload, Flame Lance, and Miniature Voodoo Mask. At first I attempted to build pure control decks, similar to the list the "Vegas Crew” (with Dan Clark and Brad Watson) ran in the Sunday Core event. I felt with access to only Overload and Counterspell as interrupts, it would be too difficult to play the pure control route and win with simply one giant ally or Master Hero.

This is the deck I ran on Saturday:

Hero: Zumix of Kezan

Allies: 27
4 Jadefire Scout
4 Rosalyne von Erantor
4 Baxtan, Herald of the Flames
2 Mazu'kon
3 Edwin VanCleef
2 Vanessa VanCleef
4 Sava'gin the Reckless
4 Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen

Abilities: 21
4 Rime and Freezin'
4 F[ame Lance
4 Overload
3 Counterspell
4 Ice Barrier
2 Glacial Tomb

Equipment: 8
4 Miniature Voodoo Mask
4 Bottled Knowledge

Quests: 4
4 Seeds of Their Demise

“It is important to remember that we all have magic inside us.”
-JK Rowling

On my way to an undefeated record I vanquished Priest Aurastone Hammer (very similar to the deck that won the Core 3k the next day, a teammate of Joe Demestrio), Hunter Control, multiple Demon Control Warlocks (Tyrus Blackhorn), Death Knight Aggro-Control, and Monster Shaman Ramp (Warlord Grok'thol). The basic idea of the deck is to play a fairly large threat (a 3/2 for one) and then blaze a path for said attacker the rest of the game. It was based on a fairly standard aggro-control theory of having a game winning threat early on to put pressure on your opponent while backing it up with controlling elements.

For a long time during testing the deck leading up to the tournament I tried out all three factions of Mage. Each had their own flavor, the Monster being more controlling and the Alliance being about a turn behind the Horde (relying on a powerful early game of allies like Burly Berta) and heavily relying on Monstrous Frostbolt Volley as a board sweeper. I still feel the card could see play, as it is especially powerful when you play it off of a free Gilblin Deathscrounger or a cheap Jadefire Scout. I simply found the design on those decks to be too inconsistent. Then I figured, what's better to play on turn one than one of eight 3/2s for one?!

Most of the cards were amazing in this format. Ice Barrier is arguably the most powerful card in Crowns, at least up there with Miniature Voodoo Mask which also obviously made my list. It is a win condition and damage mitigation all rolled up in one tight package. What more could you ask for as a Mage? The interrupts were as powerful as expected, but again not enough to play a pure control game. The best part of the deck was the ability to play with cards from Throne of the Tides that had not seen their day in the sun. Baxtan, Herald of the Flame was one of the best Empower allies printed, and one of the only ones to see the light of day in Classic. He was simply waiting for his Mage brethren to pick up the slack! Bottled Knowledge is amazing card draw in a format devoid of it, ultimately drawing four cards and discarding two. It's very powerful and game changing while you are sitting comfortably behind your Ice Barriers.

Throughout my testing I found that I always wanted to leave my resources open on turn two for various reasons: countering a Harmonize deck's powering out an Edwin VanCleef (on the draw), killing opposing aggressive allies early on (like in the Grand Crusader matchup), killing Boomer, etc. etc. This is where I discovered Rime and Freezin' as another powerful answer to early game allies and a perfect substitute for Overload if the ally was small enough to be destroyed by it. I had not yet tested Frost Blast, but eventually it found its way into the deck as well on Sunday.

In addition with a switch to Frost Blast, I found both the Vanessa VanCleef and Glacial Tombs to be lacking. While Glacial Tomb seems like an amazing removal ability, realistically the format is full of allies that are not really affected by it. So on Sunday I switched those cards out and ran this:

Hero: Zumix of Kezan

Allies: 26
4 Jadefire Scout
4 Rosalyne von Erantor
4 Baxtan, Herald of the Flames
3 Mazu'kon
3 Edwin VanCleef
4 Sava'gin the Reckless
4 Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen

Abilities: 22
4 Flame Lance
4 Rime and Freezin'
4 Overload
3 Counterspell
3 Frost Blast
4 Ice Barrier

Equipment: 8
4 Miniature Voodoo Mask
4 Bottled Knowledge

Quests: 4
4 Seeds of Their Demise
 

I did not finish as well as I would have liked, but both myself and my teammate Dan Arnold piloted the list to the Top 16, one match win away from the elimination rounds. I faced four other Mages on the day, much to my surprise, and went 50/50 against them, with one loss being a game I simply threw away to Phillip Martin. As long as you can avoid a laser-guided Sava'gin the Reckless, it is hard to lose with a turn one 3/2 backed up with a removal/interrupt suite. The deck is not without its weak spots, and solo armor decks are certainly one of them. Unfortunately, Mage has few outs to armor, unless you become more dedicated to Monster allies with Gilblin Plunderer or go Alliance for Jeishal, but even these silver bullets will not solve the long term issue with armor.

Time will tell if changes will be made to the list, but if you are looking for something fun to play as the new Crown of the Heavens Core metagame is forming, give this aggro-control version of Mage a try. My favorite part about it now is since there are two different builds of Zumix running around, you are really keeping your opponent on their toes if they keep a slower hand that is weak to early allies. I know I will continue to fine-tune it, and chances are if I am able to attend the next Metamart event in St. Louis, I'll once again be channeling the power of Frost!

“Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef.”
-Tom Robbins

-Scott

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