by Mike Rosenberg

While Crown of the Heavens has gotten plenty of buzz from a Limited standpoint, and a few of its cards have already become highly sought after before the set's even released, few people have gotten a chance to sit down and build Constructed decks with the new expansion.

Except, of course, for the R&D team. They've had plenty of time to build more than a few decks. And there are a couple of decks here today showcasing some of the new cards!

Phil Cape, Ben Stoll, Drew Walker, and basically anyone from R&D who wants to participate have been picking up Constructed decks or playing some 2-pack today, for those who wish to sign up for some gunslinging action in the CZE League. What does beating an R&D member get you? Two packs of Crown of the Heavens, plus your league prizes!

But to do so, you have to beat them in a Constructed match against one of R&D's decks. These things go all out on what they're supposed to do. Warlord Grok'thol, for example, has plenty of new Monster allies to help enabling his Smashing good flip. Take Krum'shal. If you have any 3 ATK or greater Monster ally on your field, this Ogre will immediately turn Grok'thol into a not-so-lean, but very mean smashing machine. Of course, this deck features plenty of potent acceleration, such as Keeper Sharus and Devout Aurastone Hammer, in order to play your Monstrous...uh, Monsters. What's that? High Warlord Zogar and Bottled Elements? Why, I'd love to deal 30 damage in one turn!

There are a number of other explosive decks that our gunslingers have sleeved up for this weekend. Burning Rage Warrior, with Jadefire Scout, Windspeaker Nuvu, and even Sinestra, who all get some serious firepower with the powerful ongoing ability. Arturius Hathrow sports plenty of resource ramping, a boatload of healing, and Ysera the Dreamer to cap things off! The Joleera deck that they're running has plenty ally removal, including the new Poison the Well, and some explosive end-game plays based around To Arms!

If Constructed isn't your thing, then you also had the option of playing 2-pack format using one pack of Throne of the Tides and one pack of Crown of the Heavens. Players who beat their gunslinging opponents got everything that the gunslinger opened! It taught me, in my short stint of gunslinging, that Iso'rath is a beating. Hoo boy. Nothing says "you're dead" quite like a flipped Iso'rath eating all of your best cards.

If there's one thing I've taken away from seeing the gunslinging action this weekend, it's that Harmonize is awesome. I cannot wait to build a deck around Warlord Grok'thol, and that's without even exploring the other Monsters. The green team is bound to make things interesting once Crown of the Heavens is released!