Do The Wave!

All this week, I had been anxiously awaiting the mailman everyday at 3:00 to see if my delivery of cards for my Legacy and Standard FNM decks would be arriving. And now, here I am on a Thursday night, two decks richer. I'll do a blog on the Legacy deck later on, but for now, I've been testing my latest Standard design. And while it still runs the RUG color scheme of my Birthing Pod deck, a lot has changed. So without further ado, let's take a closer look:

From RUGPod to RUG Wave! This deck draws a lot of inspiration from the David Williams Blue-Green Genesis Wave Deck from Worlds 2010. However, the deck has admittedly changed. A lot! The loss of Mana Acceleration from Joraga Treespeaker, Overgrown Battlement, and Lotus Cobra has been made up for with the traditional Mana Dorks: Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves, as well as Viridian Emissary and the new Dawntreader Elk. The Titans make their glorious return, awaiting a Genesis Wave for 9 Mana, along with a slew of Silver Bullets. Here's the full decklist.

        4 Genesis Wave

        2 Birds of Paradise

        4 Llanowar Elves

        4 Viridian Emissary

        3 Dawntreader Elk

        1 Deceiver Exarch

        4 Solemn Simulacrum

        2 Phyrexian Metamorph

        4 Acidic Slime

        4 Frost Titan

        1 Inferno Titan

        1 Charmbreaker Devils

        1 Primeval Titan

        1 Volition Reins

        1 Birthing Pod

        11 Forest

        5 Island

        2 Mountain

        1 Rootbound Crag

        4 Hinterland Harbor

Now, onto the Deck Tech. In theory, the deck still plays a lot like David Williams' version, but the best thing this deck picks up is a resilience to Aggro Matchups. Williams' had explained that his deck tended to suffer to the spot removal and occasional board wipe that Boros and Vampires often posed. However, this version can afford to lose or trade creatures like Solemn Simulacrum and Viridian Emissary and still net card advantage. While Williams fueled his Genesis Waves off of the Landfall ability on Lotus Cobra, or the Level Up investments on Joraga Treespeaker, my deck relies purely on Ramping Mana through Lands. Innistrad has decidedly not been the block for Land Destruction, and that has me quite happy in running a Ramp strategy. The rotation of Tectonic Edge and Goblin Ruinblaster keeps me smiling while I dispatch my opponents' lands with Acidic Slimes.

The idea is simple, somehow generate 9 Mana, and cast a Genesis Wave for X = 6, and hopefully put 6 meaningful permanents onto the Battlefield. Effects as powerful as this have been seen before, but Genesis wave does so in a much more controlled, color-efficient manner. Flipping into Frost Titans and Acidic Slime to lock out or blow up your opponent's board makes for awesome power swings, on the scale of Cruel Ultimatum.

As for the Silver Bullets of this deck: Inferno Titan is in there to help against the rather Token-based meta I've run into. Primeval Titan helps fuel larger waves on future turns and is a pretty big beat stick. Volition Reins is an awesome Enchantment that is put onto the Battlefield as part of Genesis Wave's resolution. The opponent won't get priority to respond until I've already gained control of one of their permanents, and by then, it's often too late for them to make a meaningful play. The one-of Birthing Pod is my tribute to how much I love this card. I makes the one-of Deceiver Exarch useful in chaining from 2 to 4 CMC creatures. But typically, it turns my Solemn Simulacrums into Acidic Slimes or Slimes into Titans. And lastly, Charmbreaker Devils. Inferno Titan initially wasn't enough to make me splash Red in this deck, but the synergy of these little Devils and Genesis Wave was. Being able to recur Genesis Wave and cast bigger and bigger waves on each successive turn can make games one sided very, very quickly.

So, that's what I'll be taking to tomorrow's FNM. Wish me luck and expect a FNM report soon!