Wizard World Series Big Apple: Top 16

This past weekend was the TCGPlayer.com Wizard World Series Big Apple in New York at the Penn Plaza Pavilion. Again, we are greeted with the Top 16 nearly filled to the brim with Caw-Blade decks. However, 4 decks this weekend were not in the ubiquitous Caw-Blade shell.




There were 2 Splinter Twin decks, the top one finishing in 1st place.

Deck
Creatures - 11 4 Deceiver Exarch 2 Inferno Titan 1 Pilgrim's Eye 4 Sea Gate Oracle Planeswalkers - 6 2 Jace Beleren 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Spells - 17 4 Into the Roil 3 Mana Leak 4 Preordain 2 Spell Pierce 4 Splinter Twin	Lands - 26 10 Island 8 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Tectonic Edge	Sideboard 1 Basilisk Collar 1 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Dispel 1 Elixir of Immortality 1 Jace Beleren 1 Jace's Ingenuity 2 Manic Vandal 2 Pyroclasm 2 Spell Pierce 2 Spellskite 1 Trinket Mage

This deck is essentially a mono-blue control deck, that can go infinite when it wants to.

First, and most pointedly, is the Splinter Twin combo. Essentially it plays out like this:
On the end of your opponents turn you flash in Deceiver Exarch, and use his enter the battlefield ability to tap something important of your opponents, land or a Tumble Magnet or something similar.
Then on your own turn you cast out your Splinter Twin on the Deceiver Exarch.
Now you can tap your Deceiver Exarch to create a twin. The twin triggers his own enter the battlefield ability, and untaps the prime Deceiver Exarch, allowing you to repeat the process any number of times.
You then attack for roughly infinite damage.


The maindeck is fairly basic. Essentially a mono blue control deck. You have the tempo-master himself Jace, The Mind Sculptor, a few Mana Leaks and Spell Pierces, the battlefield control card Into the Roil, and some digging cards in Sea Gate Oracle and Preordain.


The sideboard allows for a few answers here and there, but for the most part it relies entirely on the combo or the Inferno Titan to end games.


Splinter Twin deck number 2 finished in the 9-16 bracket, and looks like this:

Deck
Creatures - 8 1 Consecrated Sphinx 4 Deceiver Exarch 3 Spellskite Planeswalkers - 3 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Spells - 26 4 Duress 3 Go for the Throat 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Into the Roil 4 Preordain 4 Spell Pierce 4 Splinter Twin	Lands - 24 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 4 Creeping Tar Pit 4 Darkslick Shores 2 Halimar Depths 3 Island 3 Mountain 4 Scalding Tarn	Sideboard 4 Calcite Snapper 2 Combust 1 Consecrated Sphinx 3 Pyroclasm 2 Shatter 3 Twisted Image

I like this deck a lot better than the one above, despite it finishing lower in the list.

First of all, you are running a black and blue control deck, which is much more flexible and aggressive than a mono-blue deck is. This also gives you access to the Planeswalker killing manland, Creeping Tar Pit.


I also like that this deck has Consecrated Sphinx and Spellskite in the main deck. Both are very powerful cards, and control decks can benefit greatly from both.

The sideboard has some interesting choices. First is Calcite Snapper. This little guy can do some amazing things against mono-black control decks. He can't be targeted once he's on the board, and if they aren't running many creatures he is quite the beatstick.


Second is Combust, one of the few cards that can stop the Splinter Twin combo from going off when a Spellskite is on the field. Spellskite cannot redirect the kill spell to itself, as it is not a blue or white creature, and Combust itself cannot be countered. This is an excellent card for the mirror matches.


Twisted Image is also very helpful in the mirror matches, as it kills a Spellskite for 1 mana, and draws you a card. It can also kill various walls and other creatures.




Another non-Blade deck in the top 8 was a blue/black control build.

Deck
Creatures - 2 2 Wurmcoil Engine Planeswalkers - 8 2 Jace Beleren 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1 Karn Liberated 1 Liliana Vess Spells - 24 2 Despise 4 Doom Blade 2 Gitaxian Probe 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Into the Roil 1 Life's Finale 4 Mana Leak 4 Preordain 1 Volition Reins	Lands - 26 4 Creeping Tar Pit 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Island 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Mystifying Maze 3 Swamp 4 Tectonic Edge 1 Verdant Catacombs	Sideboard 3 Disfigure 3 Flashfreeze 2 Go for the Throat 2 Memoricide 1 Surgical Extraction 4 Vampire Nighthawk

This deck doesn't run any complex combos or tricks, it relies on advantages. Most of the advantages will come from the Planeswalkers that the deck plays. But there are also 2 field advantage cards that this deck runs, Life's Finale, and Volition Reins. One of the best creatures in standard currently, Wurmcoil Engine graces the mainboard, while the sideboard contains the most efficient creature ever printed, Vampire Nighthawk. Lots of discard spells, 2 bounce spells, and 4 Mana Leaks round out the spells.

This seems like a very solid deck and should be pretty well positioned against most of the field. I'm not a huge fan of it however, as it does rely a lot on my arch-nemesis, Jace, the Mind Sculptor.




Finishing up the list of non-Blade decks at the tournament is a throw-back in Eldrazi Green.

Deck
Creatures - 18 1 Avenger of Zendikar 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 4 Joraga Treespeaker 1 Oracle of Mul Daya 4 Overgrown Battlement 4 Primeval Titan 1 Terastodon 2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre Spells - 16 4 Explore 3 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Growth Spasm 3 Nature's Claim 2 Summoning Trap	Lands - 26 4 Eldrazi Temple 1 Eye of Ugin 10 Forest 3 Khalni Garden 1 Mystifying Maze 4 Tectonic Edge 3 Verdant Catacombs	Sideboard 2 Dismember 1 Leatherback Baloth 1 Nature's Claim 2 Obstinate Baloth 3 Spellskite 1 Summoning Trap 3 Wall of Tanglecord 2 Wurmcoil Engine

First, notice that the deck doesn't have a single Planeswalker. That is a pretty interesting choice. Second, notice that this is a mono-green deck. Normally, these 2 conditions would mean the deck is destined to not place well, yet here it is.

For those of you that don't know how these decks play out, allow me to explain the strategy. Get lots of mana. Make big creatures.


There are, of course, subtleties in these decks. But generally you are fairly single-minded; ramp a lot, then win the game. This deck has lots of ways to accomplish both the first and second parts. Overgrown Battlements provide mana and blockers while you wait. All the spells (save Zenith and the Trap) help you find and put out lots of lands. Everything else is a win condition. Of interest is the distinct lack of Lotus Cobras in a list that nearly always runs them.

On to win conditions. An early Terastodon is backbreaking for an opponent, especially if they are running several colors or are starving for lands. The Eldrazis in the deck are equally impressive. Hard casting one gives you an enormous enough advantage, and one that lives long enough to attack will nearly always win you the game.


The sideboard has some good tools in it. Obstinate Baloths are good against fast aggro decks, as the life swing can typically mean the difference of a turn or two, typically long enough to give you the win. Spellskites are present to stop many combo based decks from going off. Dismember provides creature removal to a color that typically lacks it. Finally, Wurmcoil provides some lasting board presence against decks heavy with creature removal.


This isn't the cheapest of decks to build, mostly due to the Primeval Titans, and with many of the requisite cards rotating out come October, I can't recommend this deck to someone just joining the game.


One final comment I would like to share with you. Notice that every deck in the Top 16, except the mono-green, had 3 or more copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Also, in the Top 16, there were 26 copies of Spellskite. Interesting.




Thanks for reading, see you next time.