January WCQ Review (10/1/15)

Its that time again! Last Saturday, 65 participants faced each other, and we look at those survived the gruelling seven rounds of Swiss, the Top 16!
But before we actually look at the decks, I'll like to go over how the meta-game changed from the previous December WCQ and how the new cards have affected it.

Very simply put, the meta-game got fast. So fast in fact, that a vast majority of the decks that made it go all out in player level one, cards that usually level poorly or not at all, like Lysian Shard and Dysian Siphon, are rampant as the game is usually decided before their poor levelling comes into effect. In fact, Link wrote an article that goes in depth here.

As for the new cards, Relic Hunter, or rather, his pet Relic Scout has been an all-star in majority of the decks containing Alloyin, with many creatures that benefit greatly from the minor buff and armour in Brightsteel Gargoyle and Nexus Aeronaut, rendering them nigh immortal in player level one, the Breakthrough is also nice to push incremental damage as well, although not nearly as important in most cases. Ator has also found himself at home in two decks of this top 16, enabling cards that otherwise would have never seen the light of competitive play, such as Flameblade Champion and Everflame Mystic.

On the other hand, Nova and Tarsus Necrolord have seen no play in the top 16, probably because Nova herself is too slow for the current constructed format as she really only gets massive at her later levels. Necrolord takes a lot of set up to get going, and a card that depends on the stars aligning is unlikely to survive the Swiss rounds.

Ipwnfour - A1 - 1st Place
Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

1 Aetherphage
3 Bramblewood Tracker
3 Dysian Broodqueen
3 Dysian Siphon
1 Howl of Xith
3 Lysian Shard
2 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen
2 Scythe of Chiron
3 Shardbound Invoker
2 Soothsayer Hermit
1 Soulreap
1 Tangle
3 Thundersaur
2 Weirwood Patriarch

And.. Broodqueen takes another victory! Hmm, oddly for five (six if you consider the Unlegendary one) times in a row now. Regardless, a pretty 'standard' Broodqueen list, although Oros and Thundersaur get numerous support cards in Siphon, Shard and Scythe, which is the route most Broodqueen decks have taken, making a huge Breakthrough threat that your opponent can't handle, with the Queen herself as support.

Onto the more interesting bits, Tangle is a response to the numerous mobile threats floating around in the A/T lists, while Soulreap is the 'Steal Broodqueen' button, efficiently removing and essentially playing your own Broodqueen in the mirror. Of course, Soothsayer Hermit makes this far more consistent.

Overall, a very standard but teched out Broodqueen list. Congratulations to Ipwnfour for winning the WCQ! 

Decurion - None - 2nd Place
Deck: A/T Ator Aggro

3 Relic Hunter
3 Rage of Kadras
3 Nexus Aeronaut
3 Frostmane Dragon
3 Flameblade Champion
3 Brightsteel Gargoyle
3 Ator, Thunder Titan
3 Oratek Explosives
3 Borean Windweaver
3 Burnout

A list that marries the Ragebots archetype with Ator and Flameblade. Explosives has both great anchors in Aeronaut and Gargoyle, and Ator gives your creatures the ability to immediately trigger an Explosives. Ator doesn't have direct synergy with many other cards in the deck however, although there are some cute tricks you can do with Mobility cards to knock out opposing inactive creatures. An interesting but perhaps slightly inconsistent list.

Monolightning - Team Armada Games - Top 4
Deck: Rage of Kadras w/ Nethershrieks


3 Ashurian Flamesculptor
3 Borean Windweaver
3 Frostmane Dragon
3 Master of Elements
3 Rage of Kadras
2 Lightning Spark
3 Static Shock
3 Nethershriek
1 Flamebreak Invoker
3 Burnout
3 Flame Lance

Pretty much the same deck he played the last time with minor adjustments with the addition of three Master of Elements, one less Lightning Spark and two less Flamebreak Invokers. Typical Rage deck with Nethershrieks.

Transcendence - A1 - Top 4
Deck: Ator Combo 

3 Borean Windweaver
2 Burnout
2 Everflame Mystic
3 Ator, Thunder Titan
3 Flameblade Champion
3 Oratek Explosives
3 Rage of Kadras
3 Frostmane Dragon
2 Staff of Vaerus
3 Nexus Aeronaut
3 Relic Hunter

Now whereas Decurion only dipped into Ator with Flameblade Champion, Transcendence waltzed right up to Ator and embraced him. Everflame Mystic's and Flameblade Champion downright hinge on Ator to be even remotely playable, along with the Staves of Vaerus. A very powerful deck, but rather inconsistent.

RGRGRG - ? - Top 8
Deck: Stasis Warden 

3 Ghox, Metamind Paragon
3 Ironmind Acolyte
3 Burnout
3 Stasis Warden
3 Nanoswarm
3 Energy Surge
3 Static Shock
3 Glaceus, Tundra Tyrant
3 Oratek Battlebrand
3 Glacial Crush

Another one?! I swear Link, Atero, RGRGRG and all the Stasis Warden players are in cahoots with each other to make one top 16 each WCQ. Conspiracy theories aside, the Stasis Warden deck actually went through surprising adaptations to survive the blisteringly fast meta-game. Nanoswarm actually deals with many threats, Thundersaur being the biggest one. Many of the Alloyin staples just become far less scary if they get swarmed too, even if they were Relic Scouted. Glaceus is a potential giant reset button at the end of player level one, which could ensure that the Stasis Warden deck can actually survive till it can freeze the board over and over again in the late game. I am quite glad that RGRGRG managed to adapt the Stasis Warden deck to survive this meta-game. Although, it does appear the deck's most likely win condition is to slowly and painfully Glacial Crush 3 your opponents to death. Poor poor opponents.

Ivantheawesom - A1 - Top 8

Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

3 Dysian Broodqueen

3 Bramblewood Tracker

3 Weirwood Patriarch

3 Soothsayer Hermit

3 Thundersaur

3 Dysian Siphon

3 Lysian Shard

3 Shardbound Invoker

2 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen

2 Scythe of Chiron

1 Tangle

1 Spiritcleave

More Broodqueen! One of Tangle is again, to deal with many many mobility threats in the A/T decks, while Spiritcleave, a card that usually never sees competitive play, is included to deal with Thundersaur, a top contender in the format. Again, three Soothsayer Hermits makes these very small deck-building costs but otherwise ineffective inclusions a very viable choice. Curiously, there's no Howl of Xith in this particular list. Perhaps Ivan thinks that games end and/or are decided before Howl becomes effective?

  

JockeD - None - Top 8

Deck: A/T Redbots

3 Aegis Knight

1 Anvillon Arbiter

3 Borean Windweaver

3 Brightsteel Gargoyle

2 Brightsteel Sentinel

3 Frostmane Dragon

3 Gauntlets of Sulgrim

3 Nexus Aeronaut

3 Oratek Battlebrand

3 Oratek Explosives

3 Relic Hunter

Only nine Tempys cards for Oratek Explosives is the first thing that leaps at me when I glance across the list, other than that, he's does go pretty all out on the armour front, featuring the full Robot package, Nexus Aeronaut and even triple Sulgrim.

Crazyclowny - Epik Kool - Top 8

Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

3 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen

3 Bramblewood Tracker

3 Dysian Broodqueen

3 Thundersaur

1 Echowisp

3 Shardbound Invoker

2 Lysian Shard

2 Aetherphage

1 Uterradon Ridgeback

1 Cercee, Hand of Varna

2 Dysian Siphon

3 Weirwood Patriarch

3 Scythe of Chiron

Yet more Broodqueen with several interesting techs. Echowisp can be used for opportunistic blocking, Cercee deals with rampaging Thundersaurs pretty efficiently, although is useless against the armour of the A/T decks. A single Ridgeback is confusing, maybe just as a seven attack underdrop? 

Jabor - Zeitgeist - Top 16
Deck: Rage of Kadras

3 Ashurian Flamesculptor
3 Borean Windweaver
3 Flame Lance
3 Flamebreak Invoker
3 Burnout
3 Frostmane Dragon
3 Lightning Spark
1 Master of Elements
2 Stormforged Avatar
3 Static Shock
3 Rage of Kadras

Jabor lodged a complaint that I gave him only several lines the last review, but I can't say much if you keep playing uninteresting decks Jabby >.>

Anywho, Rage. Boring.

Although, Stormforged Avatars are interesting because in the past Aetherphage was ubiquitous in all Uterra decks. Now that they are slightly less popular, these can be pretty big.

Turkis - Ghox's Socks - Top 16
Deck: Unidentified Turkis Brew

2 Glaceus, Tundra Tyrant
3 Nexus Aeronaut
3 Relic Hunter
2 Aegis Knight
3 Brightsteel Gargoyle
3 Frostmane Dragon
3 Borean Windweaver
2 Brimstone Tyrant
1 Glacial Crush
3 Oratek Battlebrand
3 Oratek Explosives
2 Rage of Kadras

Turkis basically took the Ragebots archetype, ripped out the Brightsteel Sentinels and Sulgrim and added four assorted Tyrants. As mentioned in the RGRGRG's Stasis Warden deck, Glaceus can function as a giant reset switch, which can be a godsend in this metagame. The other, the fiery Tyrant can also wipe out the frozen ice cubes Glaceus leaves behind, with multiple replace targets in Relic Scout and Frostmane Eggs, or as a general Firestorm, which can always come in handy.

ItsEonNotLeon - Battlebranded - Top 16
Deck: A/T Redbots

3 Brightsteel Gargoyle
3 Brightsteel Sentinel
2 Gauntlets of Sulgrim
3 Oratek Explosives
3 Oratek Battlebrand
3 Aegis Knight
3 Borean Windweaver
1 Everflame Phoenix
3 Relic Hunter
3 Nexus Aeronaut
3 Frostmane Dragon

Well this is... awkward. What do I write here? Basically, the deck I used for the majority of Set 4 with a minor addition in Relic Scout. You may notice that slightly less than a third of the deck is Tempys, with the inclusion of triple Oratek Explosives, it was a risk I decided to take as OE was simply too powerful to pass up. In hindsight however, Sulgrim was a mistake, and should have been Brimstone Tyrants. Sulgrim was just simply too slow, the armour it gave wasn't enough to justify its usually weak damage, and Sulgrim 3 just simply never came into play.

Boomsta - None - Top 16
Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

3 Bramblewood Tracker
3 Dysian Broodqueen
3 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen
3 Shardbound Invoker
3 Weirwood Patriarch
3 Lysian Shard
3 Aetherphage
1 Soulreap
3 Soothsayer Hermit
2 Dysian Siphon
1 Scythe of Chiron
1 Howl of Xith
1 Cercee, Hand of Varna

Yet more Broodqueen, only notable difference is the one of Soulreap for the mirror, which did happen a fair bit in the Top 16.

Piquadore - Epik Kool - Top 16
Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

2 Aetherphage
3 Bramblewood Tracker
2 Chistlehearth Archer
3 Dysian Broodqueen
3 Dysian Siphon
1 Howl of Xith
3 Lysian Shard
2 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen
3 Scythe of Chiron
3 Shardbound Invoker
3 Weirwood Patriarch
2 Thundersaur

Didn't quite make it as far as he did the last time, but his list now includes Chistlehearth Archers, which again, makes Mobility worse against this deck, whereas you would have to otherwise run Tangle to deal with those pesky Dragons. Only four creatures with six attack might have proven to be a key weakness of the deck however, as if you're unable to kill that Frostmane Dragon this turn, you're giving him another chance to Rage/ OE your face off.

Also, who plays triple Scythe of Chiron? Interesting.

cacafuego - None - Top 16
Deck: Rage of Kadras w/ Alloyin

3 Ashurian Flamesculptor
3 Borean Windweaver
3 Frostmane Dragon
3 Flamebreak Invoker
3 Oratek Explosives
3 Flame Lance
3 Burnout
3 Static Shock
3 Rage of Kadras
3 Relic Hunter

Rage with Explosives, moving on..

Bryan - Epik Kool - Top 16
Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

3 Dysian Broodqueen
3 Dysian Siphon
3 Bramblewood Tracker
3 Shardbound Invoker
2 Soothsayer Hermit
3 Thundersaur
3 Lysian Shard
3 Weirwood Patriarch
2 Scythe of Chiron
2 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen
2 Aetherphage
1 Howl of Xith

Typical Broodqueen.

Kushcomatose - ? - Top 16
Deck: Broodqueen Tracker

3 Dysian Broodqueen
3 Oros, Deepwood's Chosen
3 Thundersaur
3 Dysian Siphon
2 Lysian Shard
1 Tangle
1 Howl of Xith
2 Soothsayer Hermit
3 Bramblewood Tracker
2 Shardbound Invoker
3 Weirwood Patriarch
3 Aetherphage
1 Scythe of Chiron

Apart of the already twice-elaborated Tangle, typical Broodqueen.


Overall, the Top 16 featured seven Broodqueens decks, three dedicated Rage decks, a single Stasis Warden deck and five A/T decks of varying descriptions.

The most popular card in the Top 16 was Frostmane Dragon, coming in at twenty four copies across eight decks, with Broodqueen and Bramblewood Tracker coming in at twenty one copies.

Before I end off, here's a bonus decklist that Zwaxor played, and while he didn't quite make the Top 16, I still think that its pretty noteworthy and deserving of attention.

2 Scorchmane Dragon
3 Byzerak Spitemage
3 Ebonbound Warlord
3 Uranti Warlord
3 Frostmane Dragon
3 Spite Hydra
1 Borean Windweaver
3 Brimstone Tyrant
1 Howl of Xith
2 Spiritcleave
3 Epidemic
1 Scythe of Chiron
2 Grimgaunt Devourer

I'll just go ahead and point out that this deck is quite unlike most of the decks in the WCQ, this deck doesn't look to blow your opponent out of the water like Rage or Oratek Explosives, instead, it looks to use incremental damage to control the board and use Scorchmane Dragon or Grimgaunt Devourer as a finisher. Tyrant is an all-star in this deck, often allowing you to catch up on board whenever you fall behind, as an opportunistic play, or even just as a Fangwood Bear. The deck also has a lot of debuffs in Epidemic, Ebonbound Warlord, even more removal in Spitemage to fuel Devourer and a singleton Howl of Xith for reach. A deck I would recommend to those looking for something different, old-school, almost.

And that's all from me for now! But given that new cards arrive with Imprisoned Heralds:Arisen on the 15th, there will be no lack of articles to grace our site for quite a while, so look forward to that while I shudder at the editing to do!